Funeral Blues (Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE English Literature)

Funeral Blues

This revision guide for CIE IGCSE Literature in English will help you to understand W.H. Auden’s poem ‘Funeral Blues’ from the Songs of Ourselves, Volume 1, Part 4 anthology. It includes:

• Overview: a breakdown of ‘Funeral Blues’ including its possible meanings and interpretations

• Writer’s methods: an exploration of the poetic methods W.H. Auden has used

• Understanding the text: an exploration of Auden’s ideas, themes and possible messages in ‘Funeral Blues’

Overview

Understanding a poem is key to success in the exam. This section includes:

• The poem in a nutshell

• A “translation” of the poem, section-by-section

• A commentary of each of these sections, outlining Auden’s intention and message

'Funeral Blues' in a nutshell

‘Funeral Blues’ was written by W.H. Auden and was first published in 1938. The poem is an elegy that attempts to encapsulate the immensity of grief and loss after someone has died. The poem is written from the perspective of someone who is mourning and wants the world to mourn too.

'Funeral Blues' breakdown

Lines 1–4

“Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,

Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,

Silence the pianos and with muffled drum

Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.”

Translation

• The speaker is asking for complete silence before the coffin of the deceased is brought out

Auden’s intention

• The opening line commands a dramatic and immediate end to all normal activities, indicating the profound sense of loss and the need for complete silence

• The clock, which could symbolise the passage of time, is ordered to stop, and communication with the outside world is severed by cutting off the telephone

• The poet is expressing a desire to freeze time and shut out the external world, reflecting the intensity of their grief 

• The command to “silence the pianos” suggests that the speaker wants all celebration and dancing to end

• The imagery in the first stanza creates a sense of stillness and isolation that highlights the magnitude of the speaker’s loss and grief

• The final line of the stanza reveals why the speaker wishes for the world to be silent:

  • They want utter respect for the deceased as their coffin is brought forward

Lines 5–8

“Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead

Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead

Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,

Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.”

Translation

• The speaker wants people to take part in the mourning and for the funeral to be acknowledged by the public

Auden’s intention

• The first line of this stanza introduces a striking image of aeroplanes circling above and the use of the word “moaning” associates the noise of the plane with death or dying:

  • The personification of the plane “moaning” could also suggest that the speaker will only accept sombre sounds in relation to grief

• The idea for the plane to scribble “on the sky the message He Is Dead” suggests that the speaker wants the news of his loved one’s passing to be broadcast far and wide for everyone to know

• The speaker wants his grief to be displayed in public and the use of the plurals “aeroplanes” and “policemen” highlights how the speaker longs for collective acknowledgement of the loss:

  • The image of traffic policemen wearing black cotton gloves adds a touch of solemnity to the scene

• This stanza mentions two colours, “white” and “black” which are associated with mourning, grief and death:

  • It could also suggest that the speaker is not able to recognise any colour other than those in relation to mourning, or that all life and colour has drained from their experience

Lines 9–12

“He was my North, my South, my East and West,

My working week and my Sunday rest,

My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;

I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.”

Translation

• The speaker reflects on the deceased person’s role and importance in their life

Auden’s intention

• The first line of this stanza uses a metaphor to suggest that the speaker has lost all sense of direction as a result of their loss

• The second line of the stanza further emphasises how the speaker’s life revolved entirely around the presence of the deceased:

  • In the mundane routines of daily life such as the “working week”

  • And also in moments of relaxation and calm such as “Sunday rest”

• The speaker continues to use metaphors to convey how important the deceased person was to them and the use of the metaphor “my song” could link to earlier stanzas where the speaker is trying to silence all noise:

  • Now that the speaker’s loved one has passed, no other sound or “song” compares

Lines 13–16

“The stars are not wanted now: put out every one,

Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,

Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;

For nothing now can ever come to any good.”

Translation

• The final stanza shows the profound extent of the speaker’s grief

Auden’s intention

• This stanza begins with the speaker metaphorically suggesting that even the stars, which are often associated with beauty, wonder and guidance, are irrelevant and unwelcome in the wake of their loss:

  • The command to “put out every one” implies a desire to extinguish all sources of light and hope, emphasising the profound darkness and despair felt by the speaker

• The second line continues the theme of extinguishing all symbols of light and life from the sky, which highlights the true extent of the speaker’s grief and despair:

  • This stanza links to the previous stanza in which the speaker states that the deceased person was their guiding light

  • Now that their loved one is gone, they are in total darkness

• The command to “pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood” further illustrates the speaker’s despair by using hyperbolic language to highlight the magnitude of their loss

• The concluding line encapsulates the profound sense of hopelessness and despair that pervades the poem:

  • The speaker believes that their world has been irreparably altered by the loss and they cannot envision any possibility of happiness or goodness in the future

Writer's methods

Although this section is organised into three separate sections – form, structure and language – it is always best to move from what the poet is presenting (the techniques they use; the overall form of the poem; what comes at the beginning, middle and end of a poem) to how and why they have made the choices they have. 

Focusing on the poet’s overarching ideas, rather than individual poetic techniques, will gain you far more marks. Crucially, in the below sections, all analysis is arranged by theme, and includes Auden’s intentions behind his choices in terms of:

• Form

• Structure

• Language

Form

The poem ‘Funeral Blues’ is considered an elegy as it is lamenting the death of someone close to the speaker. It is written in rhyming couplets and is generally in iambic pentameter.

Structure

The poem is 16 lines long, and is divided into four quatrains.

Language

The speaker uses a number of language techniques to encapsulate their grief and sense of loss.

Understanding the text

The questions in the IGCSE exams encourage you to write an informed, personal response, which means that you need to develop a solid understanding of the themes, main ideas, settings and events depicted. While the IGCSE does not explicitly assess context, an awareness of background information in relation to the main themes can help you develop a sustained and critical understanding of the text. Therefore, this section has been divided into two main themes that Auden explores in ‘Funeral Blues’:

• Death and grief

• Isolation

Death and grief

• ‘Funeral Blues’ was first published in an anthology in 1938 and since its publication, it has become one of the most well-known poems to explore grief and loss

• The poem’s rhythmic structure and imagery illustrate the speaker’s profound sense of loss and devastation over the death of their loved one:

  • The poem highlights the speaker’s desire to retreat from everyone but also their desire to make the rest of society mourn with them

• The opening stanza sets the tone for the rest of the poem and begins to convey the massive sense of loss and grief that the speaker is feeling through their desire to create a feeling of stillness and silence

• Their desire to “stop all the clocks” indicates the speaker’s desire to stop time from moving altogether:

  • It could suggest that the speaker no longer has any comprehension of time as their loved one has passed away

• The second stanza is the speaker’s attempt at making the public partake in the grief by wearing “black cotton gloves” and “crepe bows”:

  • The speaker wants the world to know of their grief by writing a “message” declaring that “He Is Dead”

• The third stanza then talks of the deceased person’s role in the speaker’s life and uses metaphors to explain the level of reliance the speaker had on them:

  • It is evident that the speaker’s life revolved around their loved one and they have now lost their purpose and sense of direction

• It is evident that in the final stanza the speaker’s grief has not dissipated but rather is at its peak as they cannot see any point in having a future without their loved one:

  • The use of phrases such as “put out”, “pack up”, “pour away” and “sweep up”  emphasises the speaker’s desire to extinguish all the light and goodness in the world as “nothing now can ever come to any good”

Isolation

• The theme of isolation is evident throughout the poem as the speaker tries to comprehend the magnitude of their loss and their devastation

• In the first stanza, the speaker’s desire for the world to stop reflects their sense of frustration as they feel they are alone in their grief and that the rest of the world is indifferent:

  • The phrase “let the mourners come” reflects the speaker’s desire to see other people grieving and could suggest their desire to end their loneliness and isolation

• The speaker makes hyperbolic statements and uses imperatives to try to bring the rest of the world into their grief

• The poem could highlight how the death of a loved one is not only emotionally devastating but isolating for the one who is mourning:

  • The poem suggests that grief has the ability to remove the grieving person away from the rest of society, who are continuing to function

    • The statement “cut off the telephone” could reflect this

• The poem also conveys how grief is so painful, and that life cannot continue for the one who is mourning