Funeral Blues

In many ways, this poem is unusual in its subject. It deters in several ways from a typical aubade, such as Donne's "The Sun Rising" or the internal aubade introducing the bird narrator in Chaucer's "Troilus and Criseyde." For this poem, it is important to note that rather than detailing the parting of lovers, this poem addresses a parting which has already taken place. The speaker is likely driving away from his love, having left her, and imagining her still asleep. The last line of the poem has a certain intimacy to it, that even though they are apart, in the speaker's mind they are still joined by this moment, as he seems to have an awareness or thoughtfulness regarding what she is doing as he moves further away. Also, the speaker in an aubade is usually discontented that he has to leave his love; this speaker is somehow consoled by the knowledge that a parting is never really a parting (his driving off is somehow symbolic of this.) It is also interesting to note that this aubade doesn't greet the sun; rather it mentions the moon instead.

Beginning the poem with the explanation of how one feels when they first experience someone’s deception, Weslowski chooses words like “mummified” (6) and “morgue” (4) to paint the image of grief and the loss of self-expression through words. Using the term morgue makes the reader

Essentially I feel that each poem in its own “Funeral Blues” (W. H. Auden), “Death, be not proud” (John Donne), and “Because I could not stop for Death” (Emily Dickinson) are unique in their own way however, I feel that two poems in particular may show more similarity in each other versus all three being compared at once although, I will be comparing and contrasting all three poems towards the end of this essay. For example, When reading “Funeral Blues” (W. H. Auden), I felt a greater sense of similarity to “Because I could not stop for death” (Emily Dickinson) versus “Death, be not proud” (John Donne) so I will begin to discuss those poems first. When comparing each poem I will

Harwood explores the intersubjectivity between the individual and the Other throughout ‘At Mornington’ through the use of inclusive pronouns, such as “we”. The line from stanza two, “by your parents’ grave in silence” expresses the potency of the individual’s empathy. The silence represents the acknowledgement of the Other, through nonverbally inhabiting the same space. This representation of the comfort of another being, conveys the extent of the acknowledgement, and contends the notions of existential nihilism through the implicit values of “dasein”. The last stanza of the poem contains the line “the peace of this day will shine”, this line reflects on the consequences of death. “We have one day, only one” the epanaleptic repetition of “one” emphasises the finite nature of our life and suggests an assertive tone to the statement. The motif of the day represents the lifetime of the individual; the metaphor of the day represents the cyclic nature of life and alludes to the biblical notion of death and resurrection. The cyclical representation of life and death symbolises the transition from loss to consolation, through the acknowledgement of the other, and through the developed acceptance of the individual’s

Death is something that at some point will come to each of us and has been explored in many forms of literature. “The Raven” and “Incident in a Rose Garden” are two poems that explore common beliefs and misconceptions about death. Though both poems differ in setting, tone, and mood there are surprising similarities in the literary tools they use and in the messages they attempt to convey. The setting and mood establish the tone and feel of a poem. In “The Raven” we are launched into a bleak and dreary winters night where a depressed narrator pines for his dead girlfriend.

speaker’s beloved has passed away and shows how the speaker is forever affected by the

A beloved family member’s death may either torn a family apart or bring them closer together. Some people take the news of their loved one’s death harder than others. Some people have different reactions than others. Some people deal with the suffering different from others. In Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin, the narrator and Sonny deals with their suffering different. After the death of both of their parents, the brother faced reality and locked his feelings up. Sonny is more open and deals with his suffering by playing music and doing drugs. At the end of the story, both brothers have learn to understand and listen to each other. In my case, my families, including my aunts and uncles from my father’s side, enjoy each other’s company before

“Funeral Blues”, the speaker feels completely devastated about the beloved’s death and how he feels that nothing will ever be the same now that his beloved is gone. The speaker projects his anguish to the readers and vividly describes how he wants the whole world to feel his pain. Also, the speaker basically wants to turn everything off in the world, thus making the world immersed in darkness and completely silence, which I believe mirrors the way the speaker is feeling on the inside. An example of this is “The stars are not wanted now; put out every one” (Auden Line 13). This helps to show the

He explains that their love is so strong that it will survive the distance. One example he uses to compare being away from each other is death in the literal sense. The main theme of this poem was the love between husband and wife, with a metaphorical theme to death. “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” contains both themes, their roles are reversed. Death is the main theme continuing throughout the poem and is personified.

Although in both “Annabel Lee” and “ Funeral Blues” the overall theme conveyed is the pain behind losing a loved one, the tone between both poems differs. In “ Annabel Lee” a young man talks about having a love so deep with young girl named Annabel Lee, that the angels, whom he describes as “winged seraphs of Heaven”(11) were jealous. Described in the first four stanzas, the young man is almost cursing at the turn of events that led to Annabel´s death. He expresses a cynical and vengeful tone when talking about the death of his beloved, blaming both the jealous angels for taking her away and her family for locking her in a coffin forever. Nevertheless, in the last two stanzas, there is a more accepting and settling tone when the speaker mentions,

First, W.H. Auden uses metaphors throughout the poem in order to reveal how the speaker feels for the loved one they lost. A metaphor is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable. The first metaphor W.H. Auden uses is “He was my North, my South, my East and West” (9). This metaphor conveys that the person who has died means a lot to the speaker. The directions refer to the direction the speaker’s life is going. This implies that the speaker has lost all direction now that they have lost this loved one. The next metaphor the author uses is “My working week and my Sunday rest” (10). The author uses these words to show that the relationship between the speaker and the person who died had an intimate relationship. The final

Dickinson’s poem " I felt a Funeral, in my Brain", is a prime example of complicity embodied by simple style and language. In this piece, Dickinson chronicles psychic fall. The use of many different devices such as sound, repetition, and metaphors, all help to develop the theme of the poem.

Again, the author selects a new set of imagery, such as stars, moon, sun, ocean, and wood to remind of the heaven in which the speaker used to live, and then to sweep it off right away. The last statement “For nothing now can ever come to any good” (16) finally reinforces the speaker’s loss and unhappiness. In loneliness, the speaker’s love becomes fiercer and more truthful. It is the fierceness and truthfulness that lead the speaker to the last stair of hopelessness. The end of the poem is also the hopeless end of the speaker’s life because of “nothing …good.”

Throughout the poem, W.D. Auden did an exceptional job incorporating the several examples of figures of speech. By including these devices, Auden drew deeper connections to the overall themes of death and love with the readers. For example, “let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead/ scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead” is an illustration of personification (Auden, 5-6). Auden personifies an airplane to mourn over someone and scribble in the sky. Both human like characteristics suggest that the speaker wishes for everyone to know that his loved one has passed, so that everyone can mourn over the deceased, like the speaker. Another example of this is shown through a series of metaphors in lines 9-12 “…my North, my South, my East, my West,/ My working week and my Sunday rest,/ My noon, my

By examining the poetic devices and how Whitman uses them to heighten the sense of death and different facets of grief it becomes obvious that while both poems intimately explore death, grief, and morbidity, When Lilacs last in the Dooryard Bloom'd presents a more generalized, transcendental, mournful representation of grief, the poem Out of the Cradle Endlessly rocking confronts the reader with the stark pain and reality of death