Valentine and funeral blues essay

Auden takes the simple things and describes them with sharp detail. “Muffled drum” is a good example of a solemn drum beat of a funeral procession. “Aeroplanes moaning overhead” is a good example of personification, as if the aeroplanes are mourning the loss of the loved one also, and by extension, the world.

...In the poem ‘ Funeral Blues ’ by W. H. Auden, a sad and depressing atmosphere is created as the poem tells a story of the man’s grief. The poet’s use of language, word choice and sentence structure makes the mood in this poem suitable for the message it is getting across.

Blues songs were traditionally composed of three-line stanzas where the first two lines are identical and followed by a concluding riming third line. However, Auden does not include the three-line stanzas in his poem, and it is written in a freestyle form with the rhyming pattern: AA, BB, CC, DD, EE, FF, GG, HH.

...In the poem “ Funeral Blues ,” W.H. Auden’s choice of diction allows the reader a greater understanding of the intensity and depth of feeling experienced upon the loss of a loved one. Likewise, the symbolism used by the poet pulls us into the actual world of the grief stricken as he searches for ways to mourn this passing.