Classics Club October Question

 

Let’s talk about classic poetry! Have you got a favorite classic poem? Do you read poetry? 

Poetry is my Achilles Heel as a reader. I just can’t seem to get into it. There are rare occasion when I will come across a piece that resonates with me though and one of those is W.H. Auden’s “Funeral Blues.” I think the first time I heard it was when I saw “Four Weddings and a Funeral.” After that I read more of Auden’s work and I loved it, but “Funeral Blues” is still my favorite.

Funeral Blues
by W.H. Auden

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,

Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,

Silence the pianos and with muffled drum

Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

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.

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.

 

Do you have a favorite poem?

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