FUNERAL BLUES[STOP ALL THE CLOCKS, CUT OFF THE TELEPHONE] -1936-

Poet: W. H. AudenPresented By: Chris Favero

WYSTAN HUGH AUDENBorn: 21 February, 1907 York, England Died: 29 September 1973 (aged 66) Vienna, Austria(Wikipedia Auden)Photo courtesy of: news.bbc.co.uk http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/710000/images/_710 447_auden150.jpg

Poet Man of Letters

CHILDHOOD Auden was born in York, England, to George Augustus Auden, a physician, and Constance Rosalie Bicknell Auden, who had trained (but never served) as a missionary nurse. He was the third of three children, all sons; the eldest, George Bernard Auden, became a farmer, while the second, John Bicknell Auden, became a geologist. Auden's grandfathers were both Church of England clergymen; he grew up in an Anglo-Catholic household which followed a "High" form of Anglicanism with doctrine and ritual resembling those of Roman Catholicism.(Wikipedia Auden)

EDUCATION Auden's first boarding school was St. Edmund's School, Surrey At thirteen he went to Gresham's School in Norfolk His first published poems appeared in the school magazine in 1923. In 1925 he went to Christ Church, Oxford, with a scholarship in biology,but he switched to English by his second year.

Auden left Oxford in 1928 with a Masters degree.(Wikipedia Auden)

1936 / WORLD EVENTS January 20 King George V of the U.K. dies. February 6 The IV Olympic Winter Games open in GarmischPartenkirchen, Germany. March 1 Construction of Hoover Dam is completed. March 7 In violation of the Treaty of Versailles, Nazi Germany reoccupies the Rhineland. August 1 The 1936 Summer Olympics open in Berlin, Germany, and mark the first live television coverage of a sports event in world history. November 2 The BBC launches the world's first regular (then) highdefinition television service. November 3 U.S. presidential election, 1936: Franklin D. Roosevelt isPhoto courtesy of: WiciaQ http://wiciaq.deviantart.com/art/Reflection-of-sorrow58745568

reelected to a second term in a landslide victory over Alf Landon.(Wikipedia 1936)

FUNERAL BLUES More commonly known as Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone, exists in two very different versions: the original version in five stanzas, and the 1938 final version in four stanzas. The original five-stanza version was a parody of a poem of mourning for a political leader written for the verse play The Ascent of F6, which Auden wrote with Christopher Isherwood in 1936. Both the original and the later version share the first and second stanzas, but the endings are entirely different. The final four-stanza version of the poem was written to be sung by the soprano Hedli Anderson, in a setting by Benjamin Britten.(Wikipedia Auden)

STANZA IStop 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.

National Public Radio - Poem

STANZA IILet aeroplanes circle moaning overhead Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead, Put crpe bows round the white necks of the public doves, Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

National Public Radio - Poem

STANZA IIIHe 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.

National Public Radio - Poem

STANZA IVThe 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.

National Public Radio - Poem

FUNERAL BLUES[STOP ALL THE CLOCKS, CUT OFF THE TELEPHONE] -1936-

-Summary-

WORKS CITEDAuden Society Wikipedia - Auden Wikipedia - 1936 National Public Radio - Poem deviantART - Images Google Images YouTube - Reading