What is an elegy?

1. What is an elegy? Using Google, find out what an elegy is. Write the definition in your book/Word document for today. Read the poem by W.H. Auden on the following slide. Write a paragraph explaining how Auden’s poem fits the description of an elegy. Complete the language activities that follow.

2. Funeral BluesW. H. Auden(1907-1973) Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone, Prevent the dog from barking with that juicy bone, Silence the pianos and with muffled drum Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come. Let the 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 woods: For nothing now can ever come to any good.

3. Funeral BluesW. H. Auden(1907-1973) When a poet uses figurative language to create mental pictures in the reader’s mind it is called imagery. There are two components of figurative language used in ‘Funeral Blues’. What are they? Find examples of each of them in the poem and write a paragraph for each technique explaining how Auden has used each component of imagery to enhance his intended meaning.

4. Funeral BluesW. H. Auden(1907-1973) Hyperbole is deliberate exaggeration for effect. It is a figure of speech, and not meant literally. Everyday examples include: “I’ve been waiting for ages” or “I’m starving” Find an example of hyperbole in the poem and explain how Auden uses this figure of speech to convey his feelings effectively.

5. Funeral BluesW. H. Auden(1907-1973) Caesuras literally means a cutting. It is the pause in a line of poetry, indicated by the use of punctuation. Think about the effect of this example: “A four foot box, a foot for every year” Explain how Auden’s incorporation caesuras enhances the effect of the poem, citing evidence from the poem to support your answer.

6. Funeral BluesW. H. Auden(1907-1973) Words which express command are called imperatives. Extremely urgent and demanding, they are sometimes punctuated with an exclamation mark. What are the effects of: Charge! Hurry! Stop. Go. Explain the effect of Auden’s use of imperatives in Funeral Blues?

7. Funeral BluesW. H. Auden(1907-1973) Sound devices include assonance, alliteration and end-rhyme. Find examples of these in the poem and comment on how each one contributes to the tone of the poem. What is the effect of repetition in the poem and how does it enhance Auden’s purpose in this stanza? Where is symbolism used in the poem? Find examples and explain what each example symbolises.