What figurative language is used in Funeral Blues?

What figurative language is used in Funeral Blues?

Within ‘Funeral Blues’ Auden makes use of several poetic techniques. These include caesura, anaphora, alliteration, enjambment and hyperbole. The first, caesura, occurs when a line is split in half, sometimes with punctuation, sometimes not.

Who is W.H. Auden talking about in Funeral Blues?

‘Funeral Blues’: summary The poem is divided into four stanzas. The first two stanzas see the speaker of the poem, who is mourning the loss of a close friend (or, indeed, a lover), making a series of requests or commands.

How does Auden present grief in Funeral Blues?

W. H. Auden’s poem, “Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone” conveys the meaning of overwhelming grief, tragic loss, and an unrelenting pessimism best exemplified in the last lines, “For nothing now can ever come to any good.” The tone of the poem is that of a melancholy sadness enforced by the internal rhyme …

What is the rhythm of Funeral Blues?

“Funeral Blues” is written in quatrains, and it does make use of iambic pentameter, but it’s highly irregular in its meter, with extra syllables here and wonky feet there. And the rhyme scheme is tweaked a bit, too: AABB instead of ABAB. Auden is using heroic couplets instead of alternating rhymes.

Why did W.H. Auden write Funeral Blues?

It was written as a satiric poem of mourning for a political leader. In the play, the poem was put to music by the composer Benjamin Britten and read as a blues work.

What inspired Funeral Blues?

Auden first wrote it in 1936 as part of The Ascent of F6, a play that he co-wrote with Christopher Isherwood. In the play, the poem was satirical, which means that it was snarky, mocking, and overblown. It poked fun at a dead politician, which is maybe not so classy, but something we’re all guilty of now and then.

Are Funeral Blues satire?

Considering that it’s such a short poem, Auden’s poem “Funeral Blues” has a pretty complicated history. Auden first wrote it in 1936 as part of The Ascent of F6, a play that he co-wrote with Christopher Isherwood. In the play, the poem was satirical, which means that it was snarky, mocking, and overblown.

Who was Auden’s lover?

poet Chester Kallman
In April 1939, Isherwood moved to California, and he and Auden saw each other only intermittently in later years. Around this time, Auden met the poet Chester Kallman, who became his lover for the next two years (Auden described their relation as a “marriage” that began with a cross-country “honeymoon” journey).

Why is Funeral Blues called Funeral Blues?

The poem is called “Funeral Blues,” and Shmoop thinks that’s the perfect title. After all, it’s a sad song (blues) about a dead guy (funeral). Done and done. As we discuss in our “In a Nutshell” section, the song was set to music before it was published as a poem.