Stop all the clocks..
Poems and any kind of literature are my first love.
Here’s one English poem I found. (I usually read Indonesian poems, with super rich vocabulary and grammar-breaking form)
Titled “Funeral Blues”, it’s more well-known as “Stop All the Clocks” due to its first line. It was written by W. H. Auden.
You can listen to my reading by clicking play below (flash player needed) while reading the text of the poem.
Enjoy.. 
Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He is Dead.
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.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.
My first time ever reciting a poem in English (really!). It’s exciting. Hahaha.
In case you don’t like my rendition, here’s a popular version, read by John Hannah at the film “Four Weddings and a Funeral”
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5 Responses to “Stop all the clocks..”
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rinaz
on April 18th, 2008
I didnt know that they read it in 4 weddings and a funeral.
I read this poem during my literature class, I should have my notes somewhere … hmmmm
sylv
on April 18th, 2008
According to Wikipedia, the poem became ever more popular after this reading in that film.
Actually I’ve read this poem a long time ago too.. I think it was in my English lesson book.
Ashley
on June 26th, 2008
Does anyone here know where I can find the original 5 stanza version of this?
Anna
on September 17th, 2009
Hold up your umbrellas to keep off the rain
From Doctor Williams while he opens a vein;
Life, he pronounces, it is finally extinct.
Sergeant, arrest that man who said he winked!
Shawcross will say a few words sad and kind
To the weeping crowds about the Master-mind,
While Lamp with a powerful microscope
Searches their faces for a sign of hope.
And Gunn, of course, will drive a motor-hearse:
None could drive it better, most would drive it worse.
He’ll open up the throttle to its fullest power
And drive him to the grave at ninety miles an hour.
Sylvia Giacinta
on September 29th, 2009
hi Anna from Russia! Thanks for the reply.