Funeral Blues Flashcards
(17 cards)
What is the main theme of the poem? (Funeral Blues)
The poem focuses on grief, particularly the grief of the speaker, who has lost someone very close to him.
Paragraph 1? (Funeral Blues)
In the first two stanzas, the narrator despairs, almost begging for the world to care about his grief in an almost exaggerated way, displaying the raw and dramatic emotions associated with grief.
Quotes for paragraph 1? (Funeral Blues)
‘stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone’
‘let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead’
‘white necks of the public doves’ ‘black cotton gloves’
‘stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone’
The opening line of the poem, the dramatic dramatic demand to stop all regular activities shows how the narrator’s world seems to stop upon the death of his friend
‘let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead’
the personification of the planes with ‘moaning’ expresses the narrators grief
‘moaning’ connotes the sounds of dying, showing how he is reminded of the death of his friend in everything
‘white necks of the public doves’ ‘black cotton gloves’
the colours black and white are often closely associated with grief
these are also the only two colours mentioned, implying that perhaps his world has become colourless
Paragraph 2? (Funeral Blues)
In the final two stanzas, his focus switches to his own grief and there is a theme of the impact the person had on his life
Quotes for paragraph 2? (Funeral Blues)
‘my North, my South, my East, and West’
‘the stars are not wanted now: put out every one’
‘pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood’
‘my North, my South, my East, and West’
anaphora of ‘my’ emphasises the shift to his own grief
almost like the narrator has lost his direction in life without his friend
‘the stars are not wanted now: put out every one’
‘stars’ –> typically a symbol of beauty and hope but even the universal beauty cannot heal him and he commands them to be ‘put out’ (another imperative that shows his desperation for other people to care for his grief)
‘pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood’
domestic verbs used to describe the packing up of the world which seems useless to him now
hyperbolic which shows the extent of his grief
Paragraph 3? (Funeral Blues)
Across the poem Auden uses strict structures, creating a rigid feel to the poem and emphasising the finality of death
Quotes for paragraph 3? (Funeral Blues)
- almost every line is end stopped
- rhyme scheme
- iambic pentameter
almost every line is end stopped (Funeral Blues)
this creates a separation between each line, emphasising the bluntest lines and creating a sense of finality, mimicking the finality of his friend’s death, which makes it seem more like a blunt expression of emotion, even within the songlike structure that makes it seem satirical
rhyme scheme (Funeral Blues)
the consistent rhyme scheme throughout makes it more songlike, creating a tension between the raw emotions expressed and a hyperbolic, almost satirical nature
iambic pentameter (Funeral Blues)
the iambic pentameter creates a defined rhythm which relates the poem to its title ‘Funeral Blues’. The blues is typically associated with music and the iambic pentameter solidifies this.
Conclusion? (Funeral Blues)
Whilst there is an ongoing contrast between raw emotion and perhaps satirical and hyperbolic images, the poem ends with a blunt statement that ‘nothing now can ever come to any good’ concluding the reality of the feelings of grief
