Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone, Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone, Silence the pianos and with muffl ed drum Bring out the coffi n, let the mourners come.
This poem was used to
great eff ect in the popular 1990s fi lm Four Weddings and a Funeral. Look it up on YouTube to see the very moving scene in which it is used.
Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead. Put crêpe bows round the white necks of the public doves, Let the traffi c policemen wear black cotton gloves.
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 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.
You will read another poem by Auden, ‘Epitaph on a Tyrant’, later in this collection.
1. Write out the rhyming words in this poem.
2. Read the poem to yourself and work out how many beats are in each line (as you did for ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ on page 285).
3. In the poem, the speaker makes a number of requests. Write out as many of them as you can fi nd.
4. What has happened to make the speaker feel this way?
