Funeral Blues

• Through the poem ‘Funeral Blues’ W.H. Auden encapsulates the immensity of grief and loss by presenting the poem as an elegy.
• The poem is written from the perspective of someone who is in mourning and wants the world to mourn too
• Auden effectively demonstrates and explores the themes of death and grief, as well as isolation through a number of language techniques and imagery.
• Auden uses a variety of different techniques and images to capture the speaker’s grief and sense of loss.
• The speaker uses imperatives such as, “stop”, “prevent” and “silence” to demand that people stop moving on and functioning, just as they are unable to move on without their loved one.
• Moreover, in stanza three, the speaker uses hyperbolic language, “He was my North, my South, my East and West,” to illustrate the depth of his love and, as a result, the magnitude of his loss.
• This is done to emphasize the depth of the speaker’s love and reliance on the person who has died
• As a result of their death, the speaker is now alone with no sense of direction.
• Furthermore, in the final stanza, the speaker shows a desire for the things that bring light to be packed away and, “put out”, highlighting how the speaker’s world has ended now that their loved one has passed
• In addition, the sun, moon and stars symbolize light and are all linked to romance and love.
• The speaker’s desire to “pack up” these objects signifies the sense of finality in his loss and grief.
• The quote, “let airplanes circle moaning overhead” introduces a striking image of airplanes circling above
• The use of the word, “moaning” associates the noise of the plane with death or dying.
• The personification of the plane could also suggest that the speaker will only accept somber sounds in relation to grief. 
• Additionally, the “clock” which could symbolize the passing of time, is ordered to stop, and communication with the outside world is severed. 
• Auden is expressing a desire to freeze time and shut out the external world, reflecting the intensity of the speaker’s grief.
• Structure is cleverly used to convey the speaker’s emotions. 
• The poem follows an AABB rhyming pattern.
• The rhyming couplets create a regular rhythm that could reflect the somber and mournful mood of the poem.
• The tight rhyming pattern could juxtapose the magnitude of the speaker’s grief and pain.
• Moreover, Auden generally uses iambic pentameter but there are some lines such as, “stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone” that don’t follow the strict iambic pentameter.
• the break in the meter in line ten, “My working week and my Sunday rest” could reflect the grieving speaker’s struggle in containing their distress and sorrow.
• The poem is divided into four quatrains and each stanza explores a different facet of the speaker’s grief.
• Furthermore, the use of an anaphora and repetitive use of the word “my” moves the focus of the poem from a desire for public mourning to one that is more personal.
• The repetition emphasizes the depth of the speaker’s love for the deceased person. 
• The caesura at the end of each stanza creates the effect that each line is on its own and isolated, mirroring the speaker’s feelings of isolation and loneliness as they feel cut off from the world. 
• The ending of the poem shows the profound extent of the speaker’s grief.
• The final 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, emphasizing the darkness and despair felt by the speaker.
• Additionally, commanding to “pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood” further illustrates the speaker’s despair by using hyperbolic language to highlight the immensity of their loss.
• The concluding line, “For nothing now can ever come to any good” encapsulates the overwhelming sense of hopelessness 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 in the future.
• Overall, Auden successfully conveys the concept of grief through his poem by demonstrating the themes of death and isolation and exploring different aspects of grief. 
• Pity and empathy are felt from the reader while exploring different stages of the poem.