Stylistic analysis of Stop All The Clocks, W H Auden

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        STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF POETRY

       

        'STOP ALL THE CLOCKS', W.H. AUDEN

                       

                           

            BA  (HONS) ENGLISH LANGUAGE

                       

                       

WORD COUNT:1022                 

                                 Stop All The Clocks', W. H. Auden

                  The monosyllabic title of this poem is an imperative command and by its

syntactic form (imperative verb-predeterminer-determiner-noun) connotations of

urgency are foregrounded. The poem's tone is elegiac and lamentable and is written in a

formal diction befitting of such a solemn occasion. Thematically it looks at time, death,

love and grief. Auden was a homosexual and it was claimed that this poem was written

on the death of his lover, (Hamilton,1994:22). It could be said it is a poem about the

pain and grief the narrator is experiencing following the death of his partner. He is

bereft and according to Engler, 'as there is no specific indication that the speaker is not

the author, we tend to read the text as a personal statement of the author, almost

autobiographical', (cited in Verdonk, 1993:167). This poem, whose metre is an iambic

pentameter has a sombre beat which is paralleled with the implied sound of the

'muffled drum'. It has a regular rhyme scheme of a/a/b/b and has four quatrains, each

quatrain comprising of two rhyming heroic couplets, helping to create and maintain a

steady, almost melodic rhythm.

                      The first verb clause which uses an imperative form, 'Stop all the clocks'

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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 ...

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