reinforces the title of the poem and is followed immediately by a second verb clause,
'cut off the telephone,' even the piano must be silenced. The commands 'stop' and
'silence' are phonologically foregrounded by the use of sibilance. Their use conveys the
quietness the narrator is demanding, translating into a 'shush' quietening, onomatopoeic
phonological effect, creating peace and a sense of silence and which also has the ability
to slow down the forward movement of the poem. Everything must be silent, even the
dog must be silenced 'with a juicy bone'. An air of solemnity is created and the reader is
made aware of the mournful tone of the occasion.
There is a single occurrence of enjambment within the poem, between
lines three and four of the first stanza, which rushes along the verb clause 'Bring out the
coffin' reinforcing the narrator's wish to bring his friend's death out into the public
domain. In the second line of the second stanza the declarative, hyperbolic statement,
'He Is Dead' is graphologically deviant by the use of capitals and is therefore
foregrounded. It would appear he was deified by the narrator and by the use of
capitals the death is compared, in a malapropic sense, with the death of Christ, 'He Is
Risen'. An aeroplane is personified using the stative verb 'moaning' to describe the
sound of the engines and by the use of the dynamic verb 'scribbles' he describes how he
wishes the message, 'He Is Dead' to be written in the sky. There is no need for precision
in the outline of the writing, it is paralleled with what he perceives is his own shattered
and distorted future. He wants the message to disperse and infiltrate the air that the
world breathes.
It is to be a public mourning as though he had been a head of state. His
lover is personified as his universe by the use of lists and repetition and the importance
of him in his life, he is his world is foregrounded by the use of personal pronouns and an
extended metaphor, '…. my North, my South, my East, my West', which continues on
through lines two and three of the third stanza. The sense that his life now has no
direction is foregrounded by its link to the points of a compass. Even the policemen
directing the traffic are wearing black gloves, symbolic of mourning, not white as is
usual, also helping to reinforce the narrators loss of direction .The archaic tradition of
placing black crepe bows around the necks of the mourning has been personified in the
transference of their wearing to the white necks of the doves. There is imagery here of
light versus dark or as the reader may perceive, life versus death. Doves are symbolic of
purity and of heaven and are believed to fly at Saint Peter's Gate. It would seem that on
their arrival there, even the light and serenity of heaven will be darkened and
blemished by the wearing of their black mourning bows.
Assonance links cohesively the two stative psychological verbs 'mourning' and
'moaning' linking them together at the level of sound, phonologically. These soft vowel
sounds serve to create a crying, mournful sound. Concrete nouns are used frequently for
example clocks, dogs and by their use a greater depth and visual quality is given to the
poem making the situation tangible. It is a very concentrated narrative which succeeds
in maintaining the reader's attention.
The semantic field of time is evident throughout the poem, in its title,
'Stop all the clocks' and again in the final stanza where the narrator wishes to 'Pack
up the moon and dismantle the sun; Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood'. The
long vowel sound in pour represents the movement of the seas emptying. Plosives are
used here in pour and pack to give emphasis to their meaning. He wishes to extinguish
the stars and eradicate the world he lives in, time would then stand still. The first two
stanzas are written in the present tense after which there is a volta and the next stanza
is written in the past tense as if this is a time to reflect upon his loss. The final stanza
reverts back to the present, almost as though, having reflected he is brought back to
the present and realises the enormity of what his friend's death means to him.
Stop All The Clocks evokes, through its use of emotive language the
transience of life and the inevitability of death. If the narrator can feel this way upon
the death of their lover then their love for them in life must have been both immutable
and immeasurable. His feelings of wretchedness and hopelessness are paralleled in the
final rhyming couplet's pounding rhythm, created by assonance, which mimics the final
beats of the funeral drum when he says, 'For nothing now can ever come to any good'.
Word Count:1022
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http://www.fashion-era.com/mourning_fashion.htm#The_Fashion_To_Mourn_Publicly