Funeral Blues: Key Poetic Devices

Assonance and Consonance

Assonance and consonance are sibling concepts, in that they both refer to the repetition of certain sounds in adjacent or nearby words. Assonance specifically refers to the repetition of vowel sounds, whereas consonance refers to the repetition of consonant sounds. Auden features these techniques throughout the poem, creating a subtle yet powerful feeling of internal coherence that contrasts with the speaker’s sense of meaninglessness. His concerted use of assonance and consonance is particularly potent in the final quatrain (lines 13–16). To start, consider the prevalence of A, O, and U sounds in the passage, all of which sound closely related:

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

Just as the stanza heavily features related vowel sounds, it does the same for T, P, and M/N sounds:

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

Though subtle, the prevalence of assonance and consonance throughout “Funeral Blues” suggests an underlying order. The coherence this order produces stands in contrast with the speaker’s evident sense that all meaning has drained from life in the wake of their loved one’s death.

Caesura and Enjambment

Throughout “Funeral Blues,” Auden uses a combination of these two techniques to manipulate the overall pace and rhythm of the language. The term caesura (say-ZHOO-rah) refers to a strong pause that occurs in the middle of a poetic line. Meanwhile, enjambment (en-JAM-ment) occurs whenever one line flows continuously into the next without stopping. Used together, these techniques help Auden produce an overall effect of instability. At times, the language flows uninhibited, creating a headlong rush of words. For instance, lines 5–6 flow continuously without stopping until the end of the second line:

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message ‘He is Dead.’

The use of enjambment as well as the addition of an extra foot in the second line give an impression of the speaker’s darting thoughts. Elsewhere, however, Auden employs caesura to slow the language down. In the third quatrain, for example, he uses caesura in concert with end-stopped lines to reflect the speaker in a moment of profound realization of loss (lines 9–12):

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

None of these lines is enjambed, and all, except the second line, feature at least one instance of caesura. The slowing effect helps the reader register the speaker’s profound sadness.

Metaphor

Metaphor (MEH-tuh-for) is a figure of speech that makes an implicit comparison between two unlike things. Metaphor arises most clearly in the third quatrain of “Funeral Blues,” where the speaker equates losing a loved one with everyday experiences of space and time (lines 9–12):

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

The metaphors in this passage are both spatial and temporal. The speaker begins by likening his or her loved one to the cardinal directions (i.e., North, South, East, and West). Next, the speaker likens the loved one to the days of the week, then to the times of the day. Through these references, the speaker expresses how the loved one meant everything to him or her. Indeed, he grounded the speaker and provided the basic foundations for the speaker’s everyday life. Now that he’s gone, the speaker feels like all of space and time are somehow compromised, causing a profound sense of disorientation. Disoriented in space and time, the speaker feels hopelessly lost.

Overstatement

Overstatement, which is also known by the term hyperbole (hi-PER-buh-lee), refers to the use of exaggeration to make a point. The speaker of “Funeral Blues” uses overstatement in the third stanza, describing the loved one in terms of the cardinal directions, the days of the week, and the times of the day. On one level, as discussed above, these descriptions function as metaphors. That is, the speaker figuratively equates his or her beloved to these various spatial and temporal forms. On another level, however, these descriptions are examples of overstatement and are therefore hyperbolic. For instance, consider the speaker’s declaration that the loved one “was my North, my South, my East and West” (line 9). The speaker’s image here is an example of overstatement insofar as it implicitly equates the loss of this loved one to the end of the world. This exaggerated connection becomes more explicit in the final stanza, where the speaker calls for the entire world to disappear (lines 13–16):

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

In his or her grief, the speaker no doubt feels the emotional truth of these words. Even so, no single death actually brings an end to the world.

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