This is the first essay that was given to us an assignment in my Comp 2 class. It is a poetry explication essay and let me tell you...it was definitely a good way to get the juices flowing and get me ready for the semester! I chose my poem from a list and wrote an essay explaining it and breaking it down in detail. This is my rough draft. I knew I had some work that needed to be done, but I was actually ready to hear feedback for once!
A Familiar Feeling
In his poem “Stop All The Clocks, Cut Off The Telephone,” W.H. Auden gives a very raw view of heartbreak while also showing all the beautiful parts that, in my eyes, make up a good poem. I believe that a good poem is one in which you can clearly see a theme, story, and structure, but also hear the language and sound being used. I really enjoyed this poem and the ways that I found I could relate to some of the feelings, and I hope you enjoy it too.
In this poem, I think the overall theme is heartbreak. The love of the speaker’s life has died. Confirming this, Auden writes, “I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong” (12). The death of this man is what leads the speaker to the point where they just want the whole world to stop. In other words, nothings matters anymore “for nothing now can ever come to any good” (Auden 16). The poem’s sad tone has helped it become very popular over the years. Tim Cornwell wrote an article for The Scotsman Newspaper in which he interviewed Nicholas Jenkins about Auden and this poem. Jenkins stated that “at a practical level that poem is now read at tens of thousands of funerals,” (7). To some this may be a depressing theme and story, but I believe that it’s also a similar feeling that most people can probably relate to.
This poem is in a fixed because it has a pattern of lines and stanzas. It is divided into neat parts. There are four stanzas, each with four lines, making up sixteen lines total in the poem. The parts are all similar to each other in that they are all discussing things around the speaker stopping after the death of the love of their life. With each stanza that you read, the speak seems to get more depressed, until at the end it seems that they have nothing left when Auden writes “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; / For nothing now can ever come to any good” (13-16). To me, the way that Auden has structured the poem makes it very easy to follow and easy to comprehend.
There Was a point in the second stanza where I felt that Auden used very rich imagery by writing “Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead / Scribbling on the sky the message He is Dead,” (5-6). In using words like moaning and scribbling, I felt that while reading the poem I could actually hear the aeroplanes and see the message in the sky. I also really enjoyed the way that Auden used all of the figures of speech in this poem. Auden writes in the third stanza “He was my North, my South, my East and West,” (9). That line really helps the reader understand how much this man truly meant to the speaker. He was their everything. This also bring me to symbolism. Using words like this, and having them mean more than one thing, helps to really get the point across to the reader. I read an overview essay by Jeannine Johnson of Auden’s poem in which she elaborates on this by stating "Even more than this, the lover was ‘my talk, my song,’ identifying him with speech, language, and poetry, which are all of immeasurable value to a poet. The lover was the tool by which the poet expressed and understood himself, and now that tool is gone” (par 7). The use of this language from the author really helps to convey the meaning and the feeling of sadness of the poem.
After using handouts and videos from my instructor, I determined that “Stop All The Clocks, Cut Off The Telephone” has an iambic rhythm and is an iambic pentameter. This poem does have a pattern of rhyme. The first two lines and the last two lines of the stanzas have rhyming words, therefore the poem contains assonance. The way that the sound of all the lines of the poem work together, and the rhythm that they all create really brings the poem together. It makes it all sound cohesive. It makes the poem flow so well and to me, that makes it easier to not only read, but also to understand.
When we first started this poem explication in my class I was honestly very nervous. I thought that I didn’t understand poetry. As it turned out, I really just needed to learn how to break it all down piece by piece to understand it, and this was the perfect poem to help me do that. Once I found out that I could relate to these feeling of sadness felt by this speaker it was easy to separate everything and see a theme, story, and structure, but also hear the language and sound being used. I really enjoyed not only learning about this poem, but all that I learned about this author and his life. I look forward to reading more of his work in the future.
Works Cited
Auden, W.H. “Stop All the Clocks Turn Cut Off the Telephone.” “Poetry Choices,” edited by Jennifer Atkins-Gordeeva, UA- Pulaski Technical College, 21 Jan. 2021. Course Handout.
Cornwell, Tim. "Stop the Clocks for a Centenary: [SATURDAY MAGAZINE Edition]."The Scotsman, Feb 17, 2007, pp. 21. ProQuest, https://search-proquest-com.uaptc.idm.oclc.org/newspapers/stop-clocks-centenary/docview/327177604/se-2?accountid=39906.
Johnson, Jeannine. "Overview of 'Funeral Blues'." Poetry for Students, edited by Michael L. LaBlanc, vol. 10, Gale, 2001. Gale Literature Resource Center, link.gale.com/apps/doc/H1420031217/LitRC?u=lftla_pultch&sid=LitRC&xid=90dac0b9. Accessed 11 Feb. 2021.
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