The astonishing level of agony present in a person once they have lost a loved one is described in the poem, “Stop All of the Clocks, Cut off the Telephone” by W.H. Auden. In this poem, the poet describes the pain of ending an intense sensation of love when one of the partners has passed away. The inability to cope once one’s love has ended provokes the feeling that life has ended due to the thought of the inability to live alone. This is found in the poem when Auden states, “For nothing now can ever come to any good” (Auden, 16). The author’s use of figures of speech, imagery, and diction all allow her audience to understand the speaker’s true emotions over his overwhelming grieving stage.
Throughout the poem, W.H. Auden does an exceptional …show more content…
Auden includes this type of poetic device to enhance the significance of love in our everyday life and to illustrate the speaker’s emotions in a deeper understanding. To begin, the present of auditory imagery is found in the first stanza of the poem. “Prevent the dog from barking” and “silence the pianos” are two key examples of this type of imagery. The ability to picture the dog and the piano through the words “barking” and “silence” draws a deeper connection with the speaker’s discontent over his mourning of the deceased. Normally, pianos are associated with the sense of joy from the performance of music, and dogs are thought of as being excited when they bark. However, due to the author’s attempts to freeze time and halt all joyful illusions, she includes these images to illustrate the overall themes of love and death. Another noteworthy example of imagery is shown in the last stanza of the poem. Auden creates the image of life being inferior to love by stating that “the stars are not wanted now: put out every one; / pack up the moon and dismantle the sun” (Auden, 13-14). These lines suggest that without the sensation of love, nothing in life significant; therefore, since the feeling of love has died, so should everything else in the world. The article "Don 't be Averse to Setting Aside Time for some Verse," states that these lines in the poem are the most insightful, because they display the emotional state and “thudding rage” of the speaker in a way no other line does
Throughout the poem, W.H. Auden does an exceptional …show more content…
Auden includes this type of poetic device to enhance the significance of love in our everyday life and to illustrate the speaker’s emotions in a deeper understanding. To begin, the present of auditory imagery is found in the first stanza of the poem. “Prevent the dog from barking” and “silence the pianos” are two key examples of this type of imagery. The ability to picture the dog and the piano through the words “barking” and “silence” draws a deeper connection with the speaker’s discontent over his mourning of the deceased. Normally, pianos are associated with the sense of joy from the performance of music, and dogs are thought of as being excited when they bark. However, due to the author’s attempts to freeze time and halt all joyful illusions, she includes these images to illustrate the overall themes of love and death. Another noteworthy example of imagery is shown in the last stanza of the poem. Auden creates the image of life being inferior to love by stating that “the stars are not wanted now: put out every one; / pack up the moon and dismantle the sun” (Auden, 13-14). These lines suggest that without the sensation of love, nothing in life significant; therefore, since the feeling of love has died, so should everything else in the world. The article "Don 't be Averse to Setting Aside Time for some Verse," states that these lines in the poem are the most insightful, because they display the emotional state and “thudding rage” of the speaker in a way no other line does