WH Auden essays

WH Auden essays Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone This piece of text is a poem revolved around funeral blues, and the grief people feel when a loved one dies. Stop all the clocks was written by W. H. Auden and was first published as Song IX FROM Twelve Songs printed in England, in 1936. It was reprinted under its present title in Tell me the truth about love printed in America 1976. The purpose of the text is, due to its emotive nature, an outlet for Audens grief about the death of one of his close friends. W. H. Auden uses a wide variety of language techniques in his poem to impact on the reading of the text. His use of tone, the use of emotive language and word choice, concepts in the text, and the content of the text very successfully portray change in the text. The tone of the poem is a very negative depressed one. This is due to the fact that the poem is about a funeral, and how some people feel when someone close to them has died. By using this tone, Auden shows the change he has undergone into depression due to the fact that someone close to his has died. For example: 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. The extent of his sadness is also shown through the language he uses in the above stanza. For nothing now can ever come to any good Auden has obviously undergone a change since the death of his friend, and the change must have been a very intense and painful one as the language and tone used is very emotive. The use of imagery in reference to nature (also in the above stanza) adds to what extent Auden is changing. This imagery is in relation to very large ideas (the oceans, moon and sun) and this reflects the extent of Audens grief, which is obviously very large. ...