Talk:Funeral Blues
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[edit] 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)
[edit] 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)
[edit] 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. :)
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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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)
[edit] 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) 05:07, 14 April 2007 (UTC).
[edit] Summary moved from main page
The following seems too much like a high-school essay to belong on the main page; it seems sensible to move it here, preserving it in case anyone wants to put it back. Macspaunday 21:12, 29 April 2007 (UTC)
- "Funeral Blues" is a simple – but devastatingly emotional – poem about death, isolation, emptiness, longing and numbness. The death of a lover may or may not be a literal event; the poem is also about the end of a love affair. In four stanzas it moves from the time before the funeral (Stop all the clocks, Silence the pianos...), during the funeral itself (Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come...), after the funeral (He was my North, my South...), and the loneliness and grief that comes with it.
