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.
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.
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 forever: I was wrong.
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.
Notes
This 'poem' is from a play The Ascent of F6 written with Christopher Isherwood about Michael Ransom trying to climb F6,a Himalayan mountain, for his mother. The lament is for his brother, James Ransom, who died and whom he (Michael) was trying to out-shine!!!
Thanks to guest reader Helen Storey for this additional information
In a published book
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Funeral Blues
From guest Helen Storey (contact)
This 'poem' is from a play The Ascent of F6 written with Christopher Isherwood about Michael Ransom trying to climb F6,a Himalayan mountain, for his mother. The lament is for his brother, James, who died and whom he was trying to out-shine!!!
MOD MESSAGE
Thank you for the details -
Feelings Of Shock
From guest Janet Terry (contact)
My mother's death when I was 20 left me wondering why everything in the world remained in motion. I, too, thought the clocks should be stopped. -
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Waow!
From guest Stephanie (contact)
Ohh Myy This Poem Is Soo Touchin! Waaow Itsz Soo Deep &Powerful iThank Tha Author For Writing Sumthing Like This! <3' itt. -
From guest Judith Klau (contact)
Oh dear, folks, this poem is ironic! Look at its bouncing rhythm, its ridiculous images (a dog and a juicy bone, pigeons wearing neckties) and recognize that Auden's narrator was saying grimly but with humor, My God, I was SO in love with this guy and now it's over and I'm still alive! And though I am feeling unutterably maudlin, the situation is ridiculous. Yes, he was sad, but he was also laughing at himself. Pay attention to what is called 'tone,' the writer's attitude towards his material. PLEASE do not have it tattooed on your arm (or anyplace else) because some day, having loved and lost, you will wake up and laugh at yourself too. -
Does anyone know who this was written for? Was it a particular person in his or public life?
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To frownsnfreckles
As with many questions there is a really good comment already here with the answer you want. It was sent on 17th Jan and gives you details of Auden's lover who it was written for. Just go down as far as you can and hit the next page (or show all) link after the comments.
Jim -
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Thanks very much for your help Jim
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awesome!
From guest ranjit rai (contact)
it is the best tragic poetry i have ever read .the beauty of this poem lies in the simplicity of the word and the subject. -
From guest amybotts (contact)
After reading this poem, I was inspired to choose it for my upcoming english assignment which is a short story based on poetry, but currently I've hit a writer's block and I'd appreciate any ideas for a story. Thanks a million. -
This is a truthful tragic work. I remember having similiar
thoughts when my husband was killed. I remember looking outside at a child at play and wondering how it can be. The world just ended and he's playing. -
THE FUNERAL BLUES POEM
From guest Patt (contact)
I love this poem so much that I'm thinking of getting it done in vinyl on my bedroom wall and maybe as a tattoo down my back... but I'm not sure about the tattoo idea... -
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For Guest Patt
This is indeed a remarkable poem and deserves commemorating but 16 lines is a lot for a tattoo
However if you do get it done would you add an extra line citing Oldpoetry? 
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Thank you
From guest Ice (contact)
Thank you for having this poem in your website. I've been looking for this poem.
MOD MESSAGE
Glad you've found it Ice come back and read some more sometime. -
Please Help!
From guest toni-jane (contact)
i cant find the full one... it is actually longer... where can i find it... -
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guest toni-jane
You are not the first person to tell us this, however many, many searches have been made and what we have here is the total poem as far as many of us can tell by research and time spent looking and checking.
If you are able to supply any further stanzas that we are not aware of then please do with your sources added.
We shall look forward to hearing from you.
Von - Oldpoetry Team
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From guest margaret durant (contact)
I have just bought Auden's Collected Poems and looked up Funeral Blues. I could not find the title and couldn't remember the first line. Eventually I tracked it down by going to the internet. Future Collected Works of Auden should give the titles by which his poems are now known. -
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I have looked in different places for this poem and found the same as we have here: 4 stanzas.
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auden's best...
From guest Nilanjan Dey (contact)
Looked up the poem after watching "Three Weddings and a Funeral" last night. Touching scene, touching verse. Posted your link on FB. Thanks. Nilanjan Dey, Kolkata, India. -
Fantastic
This is how you do feel when someone very close to
you suddenly dies/or a true love is lost.I love the
poem because I can truly relate to this through a loss -
help!
From guest meggan (contact)
hey i need help on this beauitful poem! im doing this in school see, and ive been asked a couple of questions. this is the one im mostly stuck on : There are several strong images created in this poem. Which images strike you most vividly and why? thanks x -
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hi
From guest sam (contact)
I am doing this at school and it really got pome for showing the main charcters feelings and it so sad. well done to the poet. -
seras- tu la?
From guest cindy (contact)
I just have read this poem through the book Seras-tula? by Guillaume Musso. So impressed and touched my mind. -
Comments generally
From guest Kevin Straw (contact)
What depresses me about the comments you get in this kind of site is that no one anywhere seems to find anything wrong with any of the poems. It's as though the intelligent critique has disappeared from view. I don't see any point in simple adulation. It's a rare poet that does not have flaws of some kind.
(Sometimes we delete purely negative or even abusive comments but not thoughtful critiques. Try one on for size. MOD) -
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From guest germaine (contact)
i just heard this peom today and were searching about it in school now oh i gotta go teach is telling use to log out =b (im such a bad kid) -
Poem Analysis
From guest Sammieee : ) (contact)
“Funeral Blues” was written by W. H. Auden and was first published as “Song IX” FROM “Twelve Songs” printed in England, in 1936. It was reprinted under its present title in “Tell me the truth about love” printed in America 1976. Funeral Blues is about Wystan Hugh Auden losing his gay lover. It is a poem of passionate love for someone, for when they pass everything must stop as they did, die and never start again. After each stanza you, the reader, feel more involved and feel more grief for the person lost. The purpose of the text is, due to its emotive nature, an outlet for Auden’s grief about the death of one of his close friend. W. H. Auden uses a wide variety of language techniques in his poem to impact on the reading of the text. Throughout the Funeral Blues W.H.Auden hasn't used a lot of alliteration but in this poem it works out perfectly. Instead he has used assonance to grab the attention of the reader. His use of tone, the use of emotive language and word choice, concepts in the text, and the content of the text very successfully portray change in the text. The tone of the poem is a very negative depressed one. This is due to the fact that the poem is about a funeral, and how some people feel when someone close to them has died. By using this tone, Auden shows the change he has undergone into depression due to the fact that someone close to him has died. For example: “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" The line also represents change as it conveys Auden's past idea’s about love. It seems he wants to take all the light out of the world (moon, sun & stars) as darkness is usually associated with death and he feels the world shouldn't be aloud that luxury without his friend here to enjoy it with him. The idea of a person being likened to points of the compass is an abstract way which Auden has used to convey change. The third stanza involves the idea of something which is constantly changing but also staying the same, which can be interpreted as Auden commenting on life. The content of the poem, although not about change directly, but instead about the after effects experienced of change and how Auden is feeling after a large change in his life has occurred. In the first two stanzas Auden wishes for life to stop and for everyone to acknowledge the death of his friend and to an extent change for him and feel the same way he does, for example: “Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone, Prevent the dog from barking with juicy bone, Silence the pianos and with muffled drum Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come. " “For nothing now can ever come to any good” Auden has obviously undergone a change since the death of his friend, and the change must have been a very intense and painful one as the language and tone used is very emotive. Evidently he highly valued the love of his friend but now he has died Auden does not seem to believe in love. This is the same in relation for “My working week and my Sunday rest”. Such emotive tone and language has been employed, therefore the change must have been a very sizeable one, from a feeling of happiness when his friend was alive, to deep depression as shown in the poem. This text shows that large changes in lives (in this instance death) can have huge impacts which are irrevocable. The poem is very effective in conveying the concept of change in the form of the effects on a how a person feels after change has occurred. -
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wow very informaionful!!1 lol thankyou!!!
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A very interesting and informative piece. Thanks for the information.
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Tell the world
From guest Sarah (contact)
Have just stumbled across this one accidentally. I love it, it really captures how I felt after my younger brother died very suddenly in his early 20's. There was no sense in his death, no joy left in living. Auden has expressed a feeling that haunted me in the months after the loss - it wasn't just us (his friends and family) that were bereaved, the whole world was, but they didn't know it - they'd never have the chance to meet and know this lovely young man, they just carried on, oblivious to their great loss. I wanted to let the world know what had happened, who my brother was and that he was gone forever. I wanted to write it in letters 50ft high, to scream it into the wind, and to carve it into the sky. That feeling of wanting the world to grieve as I do, and to be still and silent has never really abated, and Auden has captured it. -
Yes yes yes ...Nothing stays the same ever again......I am in LOVE with this one....
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Its what you make it.
From guest Saz (contact)
It doesn't matter what anyone thinks it should mean. Only WH Auden knows exactly what he meant. Each of us takes our own meaning from it. Each person will read it in a different way depending on what life has thrown at them therefore noone is wrong. I love the poem and i am a hopeless romantic so i think its about a lost love....but thats just me! -
Funeral Blues
From guest Rhiannon (contact)
I love this poem. I can relate well to what he says. I lost my mother when I was t10 and nothing was the same. When you lose someone that you love you feel like your world has ended as well. -
Funeral Blues
From guest Tamsin Lawrence (contact)
Auden understood grief well to write this poem. The fact that life goes on for everyone else while your life is falling apart. He's saying why aren't the policemen wearing black cotton gloves,why is everyone going about their business as though life was still okay?? when someone has been a much loved part of your life, then the last line makes perfect sense. How can anything ever be good again? -
Am I missing the point?
From guest Sam (contact)
I do not confess to be a literary genius but it seems to me that people are missing the point. This is exactly how you feel when someone has died. Everything stops-the world goes on around you but you are not a part of it. As a grieving soul this poem is poignant. Who cares about the sematics of it? It's meant as a comfort and understanding of the early days of grief. -
I think he'd be amused
From guest JonD (contact)
This is a satire. Auden isn't mourning anyone. But so what, eh? Fill your boots, folks. It's a great poem after all. :-) -
From guest iam_snow_x (contact)
beautifully tragic poem, shows the need for love above all else. if love isnt there, or leaves you then what is the need for anything? -
funeral blues
From guest Alison Burrows (contact)
I have come across the funeral blues before, four wedding and a funeral, came out. My Father, and shortly after my Mother, died all last year, and that poam ment so much Thank you -
From guest Pome (contact)
Terribly touching and romantic. I like how Auden uses words. He shows deep grief without bringing us to tears -
My favourite part
From guest Ryno (contact)
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 forever: I was wrong. -
This poem was written 72 years ago. Technology and the English language have gone through many, many changes since 1936. I don't agree with your thoughts on this poem, but, like me you are entitled to your opinion. I feel that the words in the poem are written from a grieving perspective and from personal experience life in general makes no sense whatsoever when one is heartbroken
The last line is the only line that jars for me, I've always felt that it doesn't fit and is not a good ending to a fine poem.
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Auden Funeral Blues
From guest Kevin Straw (contact)
This is technically the worst poem ever published in an anthology. You don't "cut off" a telephone, you unhook it. "Prevent" should be "Stop" (No one says "Oh darling prevent the dog from barking , will you?"). Aeroplanes don't "scribble". Putting crepe bows on doves is an absurd image. The reader falls asleep during the utterly predictable third verse. "I thought love..." is maudlin nonsense - if he thought that, then he must have been stupid not to think that "forever" included after death. "Dismantle" is bad for an object with no parts. If you pour away the ocean where (on earth) do you pour it to? "Sweep up" is risibly ambiguous a) is this a litter job? b) with what kind of broom do you sweep away trees? I could go on. The lesson - when you read poetry engage brain as well as sentiment. -
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This is one of the most arresting poems of grief I have come across. The writer is saying things can never be the same, why are things apparently normal now that this overwhelming tragedy has happened. All normal activity should be suspended to deal with this great loss.
Guest Kevin seems to have fallen into the trap that many readers fall into, believing that their way of speaking and phrasing is the only way there is. To take a couple of examples
Cut off: In England when a call is interupted we almost always say cut-off, connections that are terminated are said to be cut-off and, in the less technically aware days when this was written, it was not unknown for subscribers to get a pair of scissors and cut the telephone cable off!!
Scribbling: Sky writing using aeroplane vapour trails was not an unusual activity in Auden's days and it often looked more like a scribbled note than copperplate script.
So please readers do, as Kevin himself says, when you read poetry engage brain as well as sentiment.
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my fave!
From guest psycho bitch (contact)
this is my fave poem by auden. he is one of my fave poets and i have learned so much about it. he enspired me to write my own poems. this poem i really understood the meaning of the first time i read it. its a great one.no joke! -
This is an excellent poem that depicts the feelings of those "left behind" by the death of a friend and is such a dramatic contrast to Tennyson's "Over the Bar"
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From guest Rachel (contact)
I think everyone is right, when they say this poem best applies to death or lost love. I know that when I had my heart broken, this poem gave words to my pain. It's beautiful and hearbreaking. I too first heard it when watching Four Weddings and a Funeral. -
From guest Sarah (contact)
Having just lost my partner I have had trouble expressing the extent of my feelings. W. H. Auden has always be a favourite poet of mine, the magnitude of grief written in the poem echoes exactly how I feel. Truly a piece of immense feeling and understanding. -
Living life "One Day at a Time"
From guest Bertram (contact)
I am a member of AA, and live my life "one day at a time." I have to, so that I don't drink. But somehow, I don't think Auden's persona here (and I refer to the persona as masculine, based on Auden's own acknowledged homosexuality) is ready for that...just like the first 12 lines mock cliches, so would "live one day at a time" be a cliche to one who just has suffered the grief of his beloved dying. The supremely intense first days (weeks? months?) of pain and loss just don't respond, won't respond to simple words. "For nothing now can ever come to any good" simply overwhelms the survivor, who really doesn't want to survive, who wants the agony to end...end NOW. And so, "The stars are not wanted now; put out everyone one,/"Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,..." But, there IS a hint that life can go on, will go on, may even see the pain diminish: "The stars are not wanted NOW," the mourner says. Certainly, "not wanted now" can mean "not wanted any more," and that meaning is rich here; but it also can mean "not wanted at this moment," which is temporary. Might he want them, need them later? Nothing's for sure, but there's that chance buried in the poetry. As for Auden not understanding the real meaning of life: Another AA motto is, "Even this shall pass." Well, that means good things as well as bad things, as the grieving survivor just has learned: "I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong." Maybe if or when he is ready to see the stars again, he will know that there is a huge difference between "love" lasting forever and "the presence of the beloved" lasting forever. When my closest friend died in my arms -- sober, by the way -- his body wasn't here any more. But after I worked through the pain, I realized the real him never has left. Actually, I embraced the pain, because that tells me how important he is, how important our friendship is, how important I am, and (most importantly) how important God is. My friend and I talk daily. He is lasting forever, now that I know what "loving" and "now" and "forever" actually mean. And it is quite relevant to mention God in discussing Auden; he never really left the Church of England; and more and more deeply embraced Christianity as he grew older. One final line: One commenter says the last line seems too easy: "For nothing now can ever come to any good." Easy? Not to me. That is the only line the grieving lover CAN say at this moment, because that is all that grief allows him to feel, if it allows him to feel anything at all. And that all is only part of why this is such a fantastic poem! -
Death
From guest Frank Kertis (contact)
I never knew this poem until I saw "Three Weddings and A Funeral". It's beautiful. Although my wife of fifty-six years is still with me, it's how I feel about her. -
This is my absolute most favorite poem. It describes my emotions so very well. The death of a loved one or the death of love...I always turn to this poem when my heart is breaking. Every year on the anniversary of my dads death I read this & post it in my journal.
Such love, such beautiful words. -
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It is hard to see what could be added, Auden has said it all and yet he has been extraordinairly brief. Barely into his 20s when it was written Auden seems to put a lifetimes experiences into these words.
A better description of the loss of ones lover will be hard to find. -
FUNERAL BLUES
From guest Sarah Greenhill (contact)
I really love this poem!!! It is also absolutely perfect to use on school assignments when you have to deconstruct a poem cause there are mnay sites that have very useful information that you can quote. All up a fantastic poem -
Funeral Blues
From guest James Smyth (contact)
This poem reminds me of Shakespeare's sonnet which tells us that 'time doth tranfix the flourish set on youth and delves the parallels on beauty's brow, feeds on the rarities of nature's truth and nothing stands but for his scythe to mow.' It also, in some strange way has traces of Emily Dickinson's little verse which says, 'How dreary to be somebody: how public like a frog: to tell your name the live long day to an admiring bog'. But the poet seems not to understand the real meaning of life, which is to enjoy the present moment or as Alcoholics Anonymous say, 'A Day at a Time'. Yet at the same time Auden will strike a chord with many -
Funeral Blues
From guest Katie Gluck (contact)
Do you know if this is published in caligraphy etc. I would like to give it to a friend for Christmea -
I really loved this piece. It is amazing...the poem captured all the feelings of loss and wanting the whole world to grive with you. Amazing. I cried when I read this because I could relaly relate to this so easily!
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Funeral Blues
From guest D.T. Drewyer (contact)
As if in a classical sonnet Auden establishes a laundry list of funeral cliches and even pokes fun at them in his first 12 lines - then slams the door shut on the fun with a turn into the truth of grief with 'the stars are not needed now' haunting and direct - no more fun and games - the last line of this poem I've never been comfortable with, it seems too easy. -
extremly deep and moving
bravo,this is a most telling work of love and respect it has moved more than anything I have read in along long time. -
Brilliant irony
Auden was an extremely intelligent and interesting poet, and that's why I love reading his poems.
While this poem does have great rhythm and beautiful language, what I've loved ever since I studied it was how completely ironic it is.
Though Auden did have really interesting ideas on love, they tended to be very cynical and anti-romantic. In fact, his ideas on death and poetry itself ran pretty much the same way-- just look at "In Memory of W.B. Yeats."
What he basically did here is mockingly string together every elegaic cliche that he could think of, as a subtle way of expressing his contempt for them. The idea in the last line that "nothing now can ever come to any good" directly contrasts his actual views on death.
Many people-- including the makers of 4 Weddings and a Funeral-- take this poem at surface value, but I've always been fond of it's subtle irony and wit. -
Deep
Wow, this is a very deep poem. I love the way Auden wrote this, with truly expressing his feelings of his loss, and his honor towards this man.
It truly is very sad when someone loved this deeply is lost, its a tragedy, of course. It does make you feel empty, and sometimes you want to leave the earth behind. Such as this leans on, Auden - or this charchter- is so lost without this person, and feels left behind and scorned, its hard to relate to anything else.
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i was given this poem by my partner during our split. this poem is fundamentally about death- the death of a lover, of friendship and of the remaining partner, who internally and metaphorically speaking, is also dead. this poem helped me to appreciate my partner and if i ever lost him - nothing could sum up my feelings any clearer than W. H. Auden.
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This is an amazing poem its loving and beautiful, and a fantastic rhyming technique!!!
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I've always loved Auden. Though I know some don't .. I too heard it first in that movie which is one of my favorite chick flicks of all time.
I hope in Praise of Limestone is on the list for this week.
Lisa
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Chosen for the movie 4 Weddings and a Funeral and since I first heard this it has captivated me and thanks to a friend my interest in this and other Auden poem has been re-kindled.
This is to me a poem of grief, love but also the epitome of respect.
Vonny -
This is my favourite poem by Auden. It epitomises
everything about grief. I think this particular verse sums up the whole poem:
"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 forever: I was wrong."
A most beautiful poem - thank you for posting it. -
This poem, I first heard it on Four weddings and a funeral. My mother and grandmother agreed that this was how it became so very famous. It is a beautiful poem, Just stunning...
LoneStar -
could any line ever be cooler than "pack up the moon and dismantle the sun" ??
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very good ironic poem, even though most tend to think it sad
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i absolutely adore this poem, and always have-I could go into a whole analysis of it but I won't! I'll just say read it a few times before you comment or make opinion on it. This is a piece of the utmost beauty
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