It is an intentionally exaggerated description, comparison or exclamation meant to further the writer’s important themes, or make a specific impact on a reader. Towards the end of the poem, hyperbole becomes quite important. This appears sporadically throughout the text, for example, “Let” at the beginning of lines one and four of the second stanza and “My” at the start of lines two and three of the third. For instance, in the first line of the first stanza: “the clocks, cut off” or “working week” in the second line of the third stanza.Īuden also makes use of anaphora, or the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of multiple lines, usually in succession. For example, the fourth line of the first stanza, as well as the fourth line of the third stanza.Īlliteration, another important and common technique within Auden’s works, occurs when words are used in succession, or at least appear close together, and begin with the same letter. The first, caesura, occurs when a line is split in half, sometimes with punctuation, sometimes not. These include caesura, anaphora, alliteration, enjambment and hyperbole. Within ‘Funeral Blues’ Auden makes use of several poetic techniques. But as the lines go on, the amorphous loss becomes more personal the speaker makes use of first-person pronouns. Most of the poem is delivered through an omniscient, anonymous narrator. It is an atypically somber poem and is, therefore, a popular reading at funerals. These quatrains follow an AABB rhyming pattern, changing end sounds as the poet saw fit. Auden structured the poem in four, four-line stanzas known as quatrains. The text is referenced often in film and TV (such as in Four Weddings and a Funeral and Gavin and Stacey). While the narrator does not go into specific detail about the loss suffered, the feelings of loss are very present. They are isolated in their loss and no one adequately respects that fact. The speaker seeks out transformation in the world but is unable to find it. In the first lines, the speaker demands that everything quiet down and that all the “mourners come” to mourn. All three of these themes are tied together within the text as the speaker discusses what grief over the death of a loved one is like and how it separates one from the rest of the world.

Auden’s ‘Funeral Blues’. These include grief/silence, isolation, and death. There are several important themes in W.H. They plead with the world to feel as they do, understand his grief, and even participate in it. The indifference of the world plagues the speaker in this poem. Time doesn’t slow down and no one cares what’s happening. Auden is about the power of grief and the way that it influences people differently.įor someone like the speaker who has suffered a loss, the world is transformed.

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