Talk:Funeral Blues

Updated
The page was so poor before I rewrote it, added some critical analysis an generally made it look smarter. Cokehabit 01:02, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

Contradiction?
Isn't there a contradiction between the first paragraph ("first published in 1936") and the second ("may have first appeared in the verse play The Ascent of F-6 which Auden wrote with Christopher Isherwood in 1952")? At least this is the way I understand it. Or is it perhaps the title that appeared first 1952? This could be made clearer. --Jnickelsen 15:39, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

The article says, "The 1938 version was written to be sung by the soprano Hedli Anderson in a setting by Benjamin Britten." Then, later, "Britten wrote a setting of the poem for chorus and instrumental group as part of his incidental music for the first production of The Ascent of F6 in 1937, and later arranged it for solo voice and piano in a collection of settings of Auden poems under the title Cabaret Songs."

These two are contradictory.

Christopher Isherwood, in his 1976 autobiography Christopher and His Kind, referring to the 26 February 1937 opening night of The Ascent of F6, says (page 227 of 2012 Vintage edition), "Hedli Anderson's singing of Britten's music was a performance which needed no support—especially in the overwhelming funeral dirge, 'Stop all the clocks.'" The version written to be sung by Anderson and set to music by Britten was therefore clearly written by Auden before late February 1937. Zoe 08:35, 5 October 2017 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Zoe Buchanan (talk • contribs)

gay?
should'nt it be mentioned that the poem was writen by a man, to a man? i imagine this must have made quite an uproar in 1936... anyways, great poem. i think it is my favorite. :)

I loved the poem and realized that it had he pronounces in it and ı looked it up who was the author then I found out the author was a man too. Thats interesting right? The writer lived in early 1900s so its normal that he wouldn't really be open about his sexuality but in my opinion its definitely about a gay relationship. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.237.29.198 (talk) 01:12, 6 December 2020 (UTC)

Just watched the reading of this poem again,in 4 weddings..prompted me to be here.The poem is fantastic the reading very powerful & I am now on a quest to learn more about WH Auden.

No, it was written to be sung by a woman, Hedli Anderson. The title "Four Cabaret Songs for Miss Hedli Anderson" makes that clear.

Also when writing a poem, a poet makes a persona, so he could have been in a woman persona when he wrote the poem —Preceding unsigned comment added by XX EOIN XX (talk • contribs) 15:58, 7 May 2009 (UTC)

Interpretation
It is interesting that the poem was originally written as a parody. I think that most modern readers, myself included, interpret it along the lines of the reading in "Four Weddings & a Funeral", that is of devastating loss. Kind of ironic.

Yes, especially because there isn't a good interpretation of the poem easily available on the web, I think it would be very helpful to introduce some interpretive guidelines, at least. The above comment is right on: It's parodic, full of double entendres, quite the opposite of what lots of superficial readers think. Quite in line with some of the works of Catullus, in a way.Fixifex (talk) 18:40, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

Pianos?
Under Critical Analysis, it mentions pianos being silenced. Scrolling up to the poem itself, I see no pianos. Wtf mate? -- Chris 22:00, 1 November 2006 (UTC)


 * "Silence the pianos and with muffled drum" (line 3). Macspaunday 04:38, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Free (in the linguistic sense) Translation to Swedish...
For some reason, Funeral Blues profoundly moved me, and inspired me to attempt to translate the poem into my native tongue...

Begravningsblues (Henry Norman, fritt efter W.H. Auden)

Låt alla klockor stanna, stäng av var cellefon! Få hunden sluta skälla — släng den en benportion!, Lägg filt utöver trummans skinn, spel upp en mollkonsert: Det är dags att sänka kistan nu, de sörjande är här!

Från flygmaskiner, högt i skyn, motorers muller ljöd, De skrev uppå sin himladuk, att kärleken är död! Kläd torgens alla duvor i fjäderbörlig prakt, Med svarta bomullshandskar pryd polis och hedersvakt!

Mitt norr och söder stödde den, liksom mitt öst och väst, Min arbetsdag den gjorde kort, var helgdag till en fest! Båd dag och natt, i tal och sång, i alla våra da’r: Jag trodde, i min enfald, att kärlek evigt var...

Så slockna, alla stjärnor, ert ljus behövs ej mer! Båd sol och måne har gjort sitt — så pensionera er! Töm alla hav, och sopa bort var skog och berg och dal, För utan kärlek, finns det inget som kan lindra mina kval! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 58.71.33.66 (talk)

let the mourners come...), after the funeral (He was my North, my South...), and the loneliness and grief that comes with it.

The Actual Words
Any reason why the text of the poem doesn't appear on the page? I would have thought this would be the best place for it... Lucy Cassidy (talk) 15:25, 8 January 2009 (UTC)


 * Added ROxBo (talk) 10:19, 19 June 2010 (UTC)

copyright, probably, though the same thought crossed my mind, particularly as there is a translation into another language now available elsewhere on this Talk page! and just for the record, here is what my Windows 7 translator makes of it:

Funeral Blues (Henry Norman, W.H. Auden) freely after Let all clocks stop, turn off was cellefon! Get dog stop biting — discard a Ben portion! Add felt beyond drum skins, game up a mollkonsert: It is time to lower chest now, the bereaved is here! From aircraft, high in the sky, engines muller resounded, They wrote upon its himladuk, that love is dead! The clothing torgens all gaugas in fjäderbörlig glory, With black cotton gloves pryd police and honorary guard! My North and South supported the, as well as the Middle East and West, My working day it did short, was a public holiday to a party! Båd day and night, in speech and song, in all our da': I thought, my stupidity, that love eternal was ... So goes out, all the stars, your light need not more! Båd Sun and moon has done its — to retire you! Empty all the seas, and sweep away was forest and mountains and the Valley, Without love, there is nothing that can alleviate my qlty!

which I quote to make the point, viz., that copyrightin the modern world is at times, unnecessarily restrictive.

It is a haunting poem, and I was privileged to have seen Auden in slippers and what looked like a dressing-gown and pyjamas, doing two newspaper crossword-puzzles at the same time over his breakfast coffee, in the St. Aldate's Coffee-House, across the road from where he lodged in the last year of his life —Preceding unsigned comment added by G88keeper (talk • contribs) 03:01, 4 January 2010 (UTC)

sorry, I forgot to sign that, and the formatting is all wrong —Preceding unsigned comment added by G88keeper (talk • contribs) 03:05, 4 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Isn't a translation of a poem another poem?! Saying that a translation of a poem is almost the same as the real thing (as this comment suggests) is like implying that poems are collections of facts - which is very far from the truth.

--Prokofiev (talk) 19:15, 28 January 2010 (UTC)

LOST
Has someone he loved died or simply left, because he says He is Dead, but he also says I thought love would last forever, I was wrong. So which is it??? Or is it both. —Preceding unsigned comment added by XX EOIN XX (talk • contribs) 16:01, 7 May 2009 (UTC)

One more appearance
It has appeared in full version of "New York, I love you" film -- 4-stanzas variant translated into Russian by Joseph Brodsky (Zvyagintsev's short film). Unfortunately I'm too lazy to add it myself --94.251.9.74 (talk) 10:07, 20 April 2010 (UTC)

Copyright violation
This poem is fully protected by copyright all over the world. It cannot appear on this page without violating Wikipedia's strict rules on copyright. For a full explanation of Wikipedia's policy on copyright, see this page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia%3ACOPYVIO — Preceding unsigned comment added by Macspaunday (talk • contribs) 07:07, 20 June 2010 (UTC)