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The Clocks

Auden opens “Funeral Blues” with the speaker calling for a pause in time: “Stop all the clocks” (line 1). By the end of the stanza, it will become clear that the speaker wants to stop the clocks to ensure that proper mourning for the lost loved one can take place. For the speaker, the clocks symbolize time in its most ordinary sense. Clocks not only measure the passage of time, but they also allow people to coordinate their efforts, both of which are crucial functions for modern life. Everyday life in the modern world requires most of us to live by the clock, and the busy nature of our days makes us acutely aware of how little time we have. Because of this lack of time, it isn’t easy to accommodate major interruptions that require a significant time-out. Yet the solemn occasion of a funeral undoubtedly requires such a time-out from the goings-on of an ordinary day. Hence, the speaker therefore demands for all clocks to stop so that the deceased loved one can be properly mourned. Meanwhile, outside the funeral parlor, the world rushes on.

The Telephone

Immediately after calling for the clocks to stop, the speaker makes a second demand: “cut off the telephone” (line 1). The telephone is an important symbol of communication, which allows people to connect with each other despite the distances that separate them. It seems that the speaker wants the telephone to be cut off to ensure that no one will disturb him or her during this time of grief, or perhaps that no incoming calls will interrupt the funeral. However, by cutting off the telephone, the speaker also effectively becomes isolated. In this way, the telephone is a symbol for the isolation the speaker suffers while grieving. The speaker implicitly communicates about his or her isolation when making unreasonable demands of the world. Following the first stanza, where the speaker calls for quiet and calm so the funeral can proceed, the speaker goes on to demand that the outside world produce signs of mourning (lines 5–8):

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message ‘He is Dead.’
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

Requiring more and more signs that the world acknowledges the magnitude of the speaker’s loss, the funeral clearly isn’t enough. Yet in making such unreasonable demands, the speaker effectively reveals how lonely he or she feels in the grief, being cut off from the world.

The Stars, The Moon, and The Sun

In the poem’s final stanza, as the speaker gives in to a new wave of grief, he or she summarily dismisses the stars, the moon, and the sun (lines 13–14):

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun

The speaker is so depressed that he or she feels the loss of the loved one is tantamount to the end of the world. As such, the stars, moon, and sun are no longer needed and can just as well disappear into the ether. Traditionally, these heavenly bodies carry a great deal of symbolic weight. The sun and the moon are both luminous bodies that bring light to the earth and help us orient ourselves, even in the dark of the night. Meanwhile, stars symbolize a variety of things, including hopes, dreams, and ideas about destiny and fate. The speaker invokes all these symbolic meanings when calling for the dismantling of the heavens. Since the speaker’s world has collapsed in the wake of this loss, there is no need for celestial bodies to light the way or reflect the speaker’s aspirations.

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