Wystan Hugh Auden (1907-1973) was born in York, England, and later became an American citizen. Auden was the founder of a generation of English poets, such as C. Day Lewis and Stephen Spender. Auden's early works were composed of a Marxist outlook with a knowledge of Freudian psychology. Subsequent works consisted of professing Christianity and what he saw as increasing conservatism. In 1946 Auden emigrated and became an American citizen. While in America he composed many works in verse, travel memoirs and opera lyrics. He spent his last years of life traveling and collaborating on works of influential criticism. This essay analyzes the literary elements of W. H. Auden's “Funeral Blues,” including diction, imagery, and tone. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Literary Analysis and Personal Thoughts on the Poem “Funeral Blues”Funeral Blues is a song-poem, in which it has a certain rhythm, or beat, that can be sung. This poem is called a blues song. The blues was originally music developed by Southern slaves that spoke of sadness, grief, or moments of loss. Blues songs were traditionally composed of three-line verses in which the first two lines are identical and followed by a concluding third line. However, Auden does not include three-line stanzas in his poem, and it is written in a free form with the rhyming scheme: AA, BB, CC, DD, EE, FF, GG, HH. Death is the subject of this poem. poem, and becomes clear when Auden says: Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come. The topic of this poem has to do with someone close to the narrator who is perhaps a lover. Auden uses a great deal of imagery in this poem; as, Tying crepe bows around the white necks of public doves, where he talks about making the doves fit for a funeral. The tone of this poem, the attitude with which the writer speaks, is very depressing and dark. Since now nothing can ever lead to anything good, . He is obviously angry about what he lost and is grieving. The diction of this poem is modern English with many allusions. It was my North, my South, my East and my West, my working week and my Sunday rest, my noon, my midnight, my speaking, my singing; this quote shows how close the narrator was to his lover and how he was deeply in love with him. Collect the moon and dismantle the sun, sweep away the ocean and sweep away the woods; . At the end of this poem, Audin personifies the sun, moon, ocean, and woods; he no longer sees any point in that beauty now that the lover is dead, and wants them to pack their bags and leave. Throughout this poem the narrator also uses other symbols to explain how the good things in life mean nothing now that the lover is dead. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a custom essay I thought this poem was very well written. Auden does a great job using both the old qualities of the blues and adding his own ideas. The use of a large amount of allusions, imagery and personification made it easier to understand what he is feeling. Most of the poem was clear except the gender of the narrator, I believe the narrator is male, which would make him gay. The reason I believe this is because the poem seems to be written more masculine than feminine. There is no evidence of this, but I have a feeling it was a male narrator. The narrator's sex is not a major concern in this poem, but it is an interesting point, especially for the era in which it was)..