poetry texts, poem archive at plagiarist.com

funeral blues is probably the most beautiful love poem i've read. i always associate it with john hannah's role in four weddings and a funeral, in which he recited it with his scottish accent. .. it is also a touching performance

In response to Jander above (2002-03-30) I don't believe the poem could have been about Auden's homosexual love Chester Kallman - I saw on another (authoritative seeming) site that Kallman died 'peniless in Spain' some years after Auden died.

I read recently in the New Yorker that Auden intended "Funeral Blues" to be a jaunty, Noel Coward-like poem, and not a serious contemplation of the death of a lover. It's a great poem, however he meant it. The site should add "Mundas et Infans", as well.

i don't think this poem is a love poem, it's actually about the assassination of John F Kennedy

There has been a great deal of debate on whether this poem was directed to Auden's lover or not but as I see it there is no clear evidence to prove either theory. The only true fact we can gather FROM it is that he felt a great deal of love for whomever it may have been. You don't have to be lovers in ORDER to share that deep a love nor that deep a lose.

This poem coulnd't had been written about John F. Kennedy because it was written in 1936. I don't think it was written about his lover either because he died after Auden. I think that he wrote it in a sarcastic tone in the first 2 stanzas because he experienced a death that made him angry. The last 2 were in a sad tone because he had lost someone that completed him. I really believe that he wrote this poem to express sadness. Yet, I'm not completely sure that it's even based on a real life situation.

This poem uses plain language to express a profound sadness, brilliant in it's simplicity. Although not British myself, I guess for some reason it is very typically English use of the language.

In funeral blues Audens first two stanzas, he wanted to show respect for the death of someone percieved as his lover. To affect the world as he thought the man who died affected him. The last two stanzas show his love for the man and his somber word usage shows his mourning as well as moping like his world as ended and he exhibits his hopelessness after the mans death.

isn't this poem actually called Clocks??

The poem, as it appears in Auden's "Collected Poems" is simply part 9 of a small sequence of poems called 'Twelve Songs'.

To my knowledge, it was never titled "Clocks."

However, it was also published as "Funeral Blues"... somewhere, and it's usually referred to by this title.

Can someone furnish the original publication of this poem?