Funeral Blues Poem Analysis

The poems, “Funeral Blues”, by W.H. Auden and “From Long Distance”, by Tony Harrison are about the feelings of sadness and mourning over the loss of a loved one. Both poems reflect how much death affects people, as well as how people are unable to let go of a loved one. The poet of the first poem is frustrated and expresses feelings of love as well as anger towards the death of his loved one. The second poem is about how the poet’s father cannot forget about his wife and therefore conveys the feelings of love and sadness. This essay will focus on how the feelings of loss were conveyed in the two poems.
The poet has been deeply affected by the death of his loved one that he wants to be isolated from the world. He doesn’t want to continue living …show more content…
The poet’s father still hasn’t gotten over his wife, even two years after her death. The poet is sad however, his father is even more damaged by the blow of the death of his loved one, that he does things as if she were still there. This is conspicuous as the writer states, “Though my mother was already two years dead, dad kept her slippers warming by the gas”. He uses imagery to express how the father continued to behave as if everything was normal although the mother is dead. In addition to this, the poet creates the impression of his father in a way that the audience empathizes for …show more content…
The poet’s father creates a façade because he is embarrassed that he still thinks his wife will come back. This is noticeable when the poet says, “He'd put you off an hour to give him time, to clear away her things and look alone”. The poet’s father is so embarrassed that he doesn’t even want his son to be stunned by his own conduct. To the poet’s father, his love is seemingly such a wrongdoing that he goes so far as to cover up all the uncanny things when people come. This, as well, makes the audience empathize with the poet as he goes through the distress of watching his father in refusal of the wife’s