The term “literary canon” refers to all the books, stories, and poems considered to be the most compelling pieces of a particular period or place. For example, take 19th-century American literacy. It usually involves exposure to one version of a group of texts that has been established as representative of pivotal historical movements, changes, and events in America during the 1800s. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay W. H. Auden's poem "Stop All the Clocks," also known as "Funeral Blues," was originally written in 1983, but an early version was published in 1936 , but the poem in its final, colloquial form was first published in The Year's Poetry. in 1938. The poem was introduced to a whole new audience when it was quoted in its entirety in the 1994 film Four Weddings and a Funeral. WH Auden was an English poet, playwright, critic and librettist. Wystan Hugh Auden was a major influence on 20th century poetry. Auden won the Pulitzer Prize in 1948 for The Age of Anxiety, a universally recognized masterpiece. His poetry generally relates to moral issues and demonstrates a strong political, social and psychological context. Auden's poetry is considered versatile and inventive and incorporates a wide range of scientific knowledge. Today, he is considered one of the most talented poets who regularly wrote in traditional rhyme and meter. Funeral Blues is divided into four stanzas. The first two stanzas focus on grief over the loss of a close friend. In the first stanza, the speaker asks that the clocks be stopped, that the telephone be turned off so that it cannot ring, that the dog be kept quiet with a bone to gnaw on, and that the pianos be stopped. However, to let the dull beating of the drums be heard, accompany the coffin as it is taken out and the funeral mourners arrive. At a funeral, it's common to not want to be disturbed by the noise of the world, partly because it takes time to grieve and remember the life that person had. The speaker's requests pave the way for the funeral. In the second stanza, the requests differ. He goes on to request that planes circle in the sky, writing a simple but powerful message in skywriting (first used for advertising purposes by the Daily Mail in 1922, just over a decade before Auden 'writes "Funeral Blues"). The message reading “He is dead” will be scrawled across the sky. The crepe bows he desires to place around the necks of the audience's doves suggest that the speaker's grief is overwhelming. This makes it seem like he wants the rest of the world to mourn with him in peace. This is represented by the bows around the doves' necks and the black cotton gloves, black being associated with mourning. The third stanza makes it clear that the deceased man was everything to the speaker. The dead man was the speaker's life, he was a guide and someone very close to the speaker. This suggests that the speaker is speaking of more than a friend and that he fears the loss of a lover. Auden himself was gay and the idea that the poem sounds the death knell for a male poet for a deceased lover. At the time this poem was written, the state of sexuality was prevalent within the community and various religions. The speaker thought his lover would still be there, but with three simple words, delivered heartbreakingly at the end of the stanza "I was wrong." The final stanza then takes up a number of analogies.