Blues Magoos
The blues are an American form of poetry that originates from oral and musical performances from the late nineteenth century. Arising from the southern rural fields, laborer’s work songs and conversations shed light on African music and its patterns. Later this form was deeply influenced by European and Hawaiian roots, getting us to today — the blues. The traditional form of the blues follows a three-line iambic pentameter, AAa, each with a caesura. The first line makes a “statement” that the second line follows up often with modifications. Finally, the third line responds to the statement with a rhyme, summing it all up. There is no set number of stanzas nor rhyme pattern.
The form following W.H. Auden’s “Funeral Blues,” is a bit different, however. Auden’s poem is composed of quatrains, ending promptly with rhymed couplets. He writes about the immense pain grief has caused the speaker opening with the speaker’s demands. Saying, “Stop the clocks, cut the telephone, prevent…silence…bring…” (Auden 192). It is clear the speaker has unfortunately lost someone near and dear to their heart and is feeling the immense amount of heartache and pain of it all. I found each one of their requests heightening the overall theme of grief. “Stopping the clock,” really suggest that the speaker would prefer if their time here was done as well. The second part of line 1 refers to the old version of a telephone with an actual cord! The speaker here clearly wants silence without access to anyone or anything — just time to mourn. In line three, Auden writes, “Silence the pianos and with muffled drum/Bring on the coffin” (Auden 192). Here is where we catch that whoever (we never figure out, just know they made a huge impact on the speaker) has died and been laid to rest in a coffin, as they wait for the “mourners to come” (Auden 192). The speaker’s way of dealing with it is the passage of time. Hence the clock and the silencing of the piano. I found Auden’s writing too close to home. It takes a lot of time for anyone to get over death or even heartbreak. Eventually, hopefully, we and the speaker, see the light at the end of the tunnel and realize we will be alright.
Raymond R. Patterson. “The Blues.” An Exaltation of Forms: Contemporary Poets Celebrate the Diversity of Their Art. Edited by Anne Finch and Kathrine Varnes. U of Michigan P, 2002, pp. 188–197.
