WH Auden
"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 Auden's 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 wo
The line also represents change as it conveys Auden past idea's about love. This is also emphasised with the use of the past participle 'was'. " The idea of a person being likened to points of the compass is an abstract way which Auden has used to convey change. The third stanza involves the idea of something which is constantly changing but also staying the same, which can be interpreted as Auden commenting of life. The content of the poem, although not about change directly, but instead about the after effects experienced of change experienced re also effective in conveying the concept of change as they also add to the portrayal of how Auden is feeling after a large change in hi life has occurred. In the first two stanzas Auden wishes for life to stop and for everyone to acknowledge the death of his friend and to an extent change for him and feel the same way he does, for example:"Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,Prevent the dog from barking with juicy bone,Silence the pianos and with muffled drumBring out the coffin, let the mourners come. For nothing now can ever come to any good. "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. Evidently he highly valued the love of his friend but now he has died Auden does not seem to believe in love. This is the same in relation for "My working week and my Sunday rest". Such emotive tone and language has been employed, therefore the change must have been a very sizeable one, from a feeling of happiness when his fiend was alive, to deep depression as shown in the poem. This text shows that large changes in lives (in this instance death) can have huge impacts which are irrevocable. The poem is very effective in conveying the concept of change in the form of the effects on a how a person feels after change has occurred.
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