In his arguably the most illustrious artwork titled “Funeral Blues,” first printed in 1938, Wystan Hugh Auden presents a morose, sorrowful elegy that brilliantly outlines the feelings linked to grieving. The poet mainly talks about the immensity of pain through an unmentioned speaker experiencing great discomfort after his extensively cherished and valued friend died (Auden line 1). Auden uses literary devices such as imagery, exaggeration, and assonance to indicate the narrator’s love towards his friend.
In the first stanza, the speaker employs imagery through words such as piano, ocean, and clock to show the significance of their friendship. Auden in line 1 notes, “silence the pianos and with muffled drum,” to depict the passing on of the speaker’s friend and the feeling of sorrow. Such instances portray deep admiration the speaker had for his acquaintance, but death finally put them apart.
The poet uses exaggeration to establish emphasis in its messaging. The speaker experiences a dejected feeling where he views the world as the worst place to be without a precious pal. Hyperbole is used in the line “stop all clocks, cut off the telephone,” which contains fewer syllables just to emphasize the feeling the speaker had at that particular time (Auden Line 1). In the epic, agony is presented as emotional and touching since death eliminates the speaker’s close and treasured friend.
In addition, the poet uses assonance to deliberate the mood, intention, and subject of the work. For instance, in line 9 and 10, Auden uses the words west and rest not only to achieve the required rhythm but also to provide unity in speaker’s feelings. The poet also employs certain assonance by using the words such as drove and glove to evoke deep feelings in the speaker.
In conclusion, the poem expresses a solemn feeling as the speaker grieves the loss of his prized friend. The two who had been close friends were sadly separated by death. The farce of the narrator’s feelings crests with the penultimate stanza that suggests eliminating the oceans. It is characterized by heart-wrenching accounts that deliver real poignancy while revealing Auden’s poetic capacity to connect with human feelings.
Work Cited
Auden, Wystan, H. “Funeral Blues.” Research Guide, 2021. Web.