Discuss how the poets of Piano, Remember, Refugee Mother and Child, Funeral Blues, A Case of Murder and On My First Sonne convey the theme of loss and death.

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Jemma Jones

Discuss how the poets of Piano, Remember, Refugee Mother and Child, Funeral Blues, A Case of Murder and On My First Sonne convey the theme of loss and death.

The theme of death is commonly used in the world of literature; it exists as one of the defying elements in the writing of poetry. Maybe because at some point in our lives, we must all face the dreaded idea of death. The poems Piano by the Victorian poet D.H Lawrence, Refugee Mother And Child by the Nigerian poet Chinua Achebe, Funeral Blues by the English poet W.H Auden, A Case of Murder by the illustrious Vernon Scannell, Remember by the romantic Christina Rossetti and On My first Sonne by the English Renaissance poet Ben Jonson, use a selection of poetic techniques in order to convey a broad variety of emotions surrounding the main theme of death.

Through the use of direct words with negative connotation, Auden conveys the theme of death, whilst creating a dark, mournful time in the poem, Funeral Blues. The mood of Funeral Blues can come across as quite angry and frustrating, and I find that this anger and frustration towards the world increases, as Auden skillfully uses stronger words with negative connotation towards the end of the poem, ‘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.’ These words are of rejection, waste and redundancy. I find that this line not only highlights the frustrated emotions of the narrator, but additionally, through the use of direct words with negative connotation incorporated with nature, suggests that the narrator wants the whole world to stop dead, and mourn his loved one’s death.

Moreover, the elegy Funeral Blues explores and expresses the frustration and sorrow of a lover, who is trying to cope with the death of his loved one. Through the use of imperatives, the poet’s intentions are made very clear as the poem commences, ‘Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone/prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone’. This beginning line suggests that the narrator is trying to keep his composure and gain control, as this will give him a sense of security and reassurance to cope with the death of his loved one. Auden cleverly uses onomatopoeia to highlight our everyday lives, for example, the ticking of the ‘clocks’, the ringing of the ‘telephones’, the barking from the dog and the steady rhythm of the ‘drum’. These are all sounds that we hear in everyday life, and I feel that the narrator has a huge urge to stop it all, and be left with nothing but silence. I understand that the narrator is longing for silence, in respect for the dead, and also that he feels there is no meaning in the world moving on.

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I understand that when Auden uses direct words with negative connotation, ‘stop’, ‘cut off’, ‘silence’, ‘coffin’, ‘mourners’, he is emphasising the theme of death throughout the poem. Similarly, in A Case of Murder, Scannell also uses direct words with strong negative connotation to convey the theme of death, ‘alone’, ‘hot blood’, ‘mad’, ‘furry dark’, ‘snarl of a grin’ ‘cracked like a nut’, ‘dumped’.

Additionally, the poet employs a regular rhyme scheme in Funeral Blues, as Auden intentionally starts the poem with an AABA rhyme scheme in the first stanza, which soon becomes a regular AABB in the second stanza. The ...

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