Funeral Blues (Stop all the clocks) Summary & Analysis

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“Funeral Blues” was written by the British poet W. H. Auden and first published in 1938. It's a poem about the immensity of grief: the speaker has lost someone important, but the rest of the world doesn’t slow down or stop to pay its respects—it just keeps plugging along on as if nothing has changed. The speaker experiences this indifference as a kind of rude torment, and demands that the world grieve too. Grief, in the poem, is thus presented as something deeply isolating, an emotion that cuts off the people who grieve from the world around them.

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The Full Text of “Funeral Blues (Stop all the clocks)”

The Full Text of “Funeral Blues (Stop all the clocks)”

“Funeral Blues (Stop all the clocks)” Summary

“Funeral Blues (Stop all the clocks)” Themes

Grief and Isolation

• Lines 1-16

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Funeral Blues (Stop all the clocks)”

Lines 1-4

Stop all the .
. the mourners come.

Lines 5-8

Let aeroplanes circle .
. black cotton gloves.

Lines 9-12

He was my .
. I was wrong.

Lines 13-16

The stars are .
. to any good.

“Funeral Blues (Stop all the clocks)” Symbols

Clocks

• Line 1: “clocks”

Telephone

• Line 1: “telephone”

Pianos

• Line 3: “pianos”

Doves

• Line 7: “doves”

Stars

• Line 13: “stars”

Black clothing

• Line 7: “crepe bows”
• Line 8: “black cotton gloves”

“Funeral Blues (Stop all the clocks)” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

End-Stopped Line

Enjambment

• Lines 3-4: “drum / Bring”
• Lines 5-6: “overhead / Scribbling”

Caesura

• Line 1: “clocks, cut”
• Line 4: “coffin, let”
• Line 9: “North, my South, my”
• Line 11: “noon, my midnight, my talk, my”
• Line 12: “forever: I”
• Line 13: “now; put”

Alliteration

• Line 1: “c,” “c”
• Line 2: “b,” “b”
• Line 3: “m”
• Line 4: “c,” “m,” “c”
• Line 5: “m”
• Line 6: “Sc,” “sk,” “m,” “D”
• Line 7: “c,” “p,” “d”
• Line 8: “p”
• Line 9: “m,” “m,” “S,” “m,” “W”
• Line 10: “M,” “w,” “w,” “m,” “S”
• Line 11: “M,” “m,” “m,” “m,” “m”
• Line 12: “l,” “l”
• Line 13: “n,” “n,” “p”
• Line 14: “P,” “s”
• Line 15: “P,” “s,” “w,” “w”
• Line 16: “n,” “n,” “c,” “c”

Assonance

• Line 1: “o,” “o,” “o,” “o”
• Line 2: “o,” “o”
• Line 3: “o,” “u,” “u”
• Line 4: “o,” “o”
• Line 5: “ea”
• Line 6: “e,” “ea”
• Line 7: “e,” “u,” “o”
• Line 8: “e,” “e,” “o,” “o”
• Line 9: “y,” “y,” “y,” “Ea”
• Line 10: “y,” “ee,” “y”
• Line 11: “y,” “y,” “i,” “y,” “y,” “o”
• Line 12: “ou,” “o”
• Line 13: “o,” “a,” “o,” “ou,” “o”
• Line 14: “u,” “u”
• Line 15: “u,” “oo”
• Line 16: “o,” “o,” “oo”

Consonance

• Line 1: “ll,” “c,” “l,” “ck,” “c,” “ff,” “l,” “ph”
• Line 2: “b,” “k,” “c,” “b”
• Line 3: “S,” “c,” “m,” “ff,” “m”
• Line 4: “c,” “m,” “c,” “m”
• Line 5: “c,” “c,” “m”
• Line 6: “Sc,” “bb,” “sk,” “m,” “ss”
• Line 7: “P,” “c,” “p,” “b,” “ck,” “p,” “b,” “l,” “c”
• Line 8: “L,” “p,” “l,” “c,” “bl,” “ck,” “c,” “l”
• Line 9: “m,” “m,” “S,” “m,” “st,” “W,” “st”
• Line 10: “M,” “w,” “k,” “w,” “k,” “m,” “S,” “st”
• Line 11: “M,” “n,” “n,” “m,” “m,” “n,” “m,” “m”
• Line 12: “l,” “l”
• Line 13: “t,” “n,” “t,” “w,” “nt,” “n,” “w,” “p,” “t,” “t,” “n”
• Line 14: “P,” “p,” “m,” “n,” “n,” “m,” “n,” “n”
• Line 15: “P,” “w,” “w,” “p,” “p,” “w”
• Line 16: “n,” “n,” “c,” “n,” “c,” “n”

Metaphor

• Line 5: “Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead”
• Lines 9-11: “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;”
• Lines 13-15: “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;”

Asyndeton

• Lines 1-2
• Line 4
• Lines 5-8
• Line 9
• Line 10
• Line 11
• Lines 12-13

Hyperbole

• Line 12: “I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.”
• Line 16: “For nothing now can ever come to any good.”

“Funeral Blues (Stop all the clocks)” Vocabulary

• Muffled
• Mourners
• Aeroplanes
• Crepe
• Public Doves
• Working Week
• Sunday Rest
• Dismantle

(Location in poem: Line 3: “muffled”)

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Funeral Blues (Stop all the clocks)”

Form

Meter

Rhyme Scheme

“Funeral Blues (Stop all the clocks)” Speaker

“Funeral Blues (Stop all the clocks)” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Funeral Blues (Stop all the clocks)”

More “Funeral Blues (Stop all the clocks)” Resources

External Resources

• The "Blues" Aloud — Tom O'Bedlam reads the poem out loud.
• An Introduction to "Funeral Blues" — A detailed history of the poem from the British Library.
• Funeral Blues — Benjamin Britten's musical setting of "Funeral Blues."
• W. H. Auden's Biography — A detailed biography of W. H. Auden from the Poetry Foundation.
• "Four Weddings and a Funeral" — A scene from the classic 1994 film in which a character recites "Funeral Blues" at his partner's funeral. The film helped secure the poem's place in modern pop culture.

LitCharts on Other Poems by W. H. Auden

• As I Walked Out One Evening
• Epitaph on a Tyrant
• In Memory of W. B. Yeats
• Lullaby
• Musée des Beaux Arts
• Partition
• Refugee Blues
• September 1, 1939
• The More Loving One
• The Shield of Achilles
• The Unknown Citizen

Cite This Page

Definition

Funeral Blues (Stop all the clocks)
Full Text

Lines 3-4

It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil Crushed

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