Funeral reading
Funeral Blues — "Stop all the clocks"
W. H. Auden
“Funeral Blues — "Stop all the clocks"” by W. H. Auden is a poem read at a funeral or memorial service. It takes about a minute and a half read aloud, usually by a guest reader. It is still in copyright, so the words are not reprinted here — the reader brings a printed copy.
Why the words are not printed here
Still in copyright. Print it from a licensed edition. Warn the reader that the last stanza is where people break — agree in advance what you do if they cannot finish it.
Pieces still in copyright are listed by title and author only — we name them and tell you where to get them, but we do not reproduce the words. Public-domain text is printed in your script in full.
What it is about
The most requested modern funeral poem, and the hardest to get through.
Read at a funeral or memorial service. Themes: stop all the clocks · raw grief · a partner · nothing now can come to any good · famous.
Questions about reading it aloud
How long does “Funeral Blues — "Stop all the clocks"” take to read aloud?
“Funeral Blues — "Stop all the clocks"” takes about a minute and a half read aloud at a ceremony pace, which is slower than conversation — roughly 130 words a minute. That is the figure the run-sheet uses when it works out the timing for the whole service.
Who usually reads “Funeral Blues — "Stop all the clocks"”?
Usually a guest reader rather than the officiant. “Funeral Blues — "Stop all the clocks"” runs about a minute and a half, which is a manageable amount to hand to a friend or family member. Give them a printed copy of their own, in a size they can read without their glasses, and tell them where to stand and how you will introduce them.
Can “Funeral Blues — "Stop all the clocks"” be printed in a ceremony script?
Not by us. It is still in copyright, so we name it and point you at a copy rather than reprinting the words. Still in copyright. Print it from a licensed edition. Warn the reader that the last stanza is where people break — agree in advance what you do if they cannot finish it.
A reading is two minutes of the hour.
The rest is the welcome, the life, the remembrances, the committal — and knowing what comes next. Answer some questions about them and get the whole service, written out, with this reading in its place.
Other readings that suit the same service
- Warning — "When I am an old woman I shall wear purple"a minute and a halfJenny Joseph
- Remember55 secondsChristina Rossetti
- Requiem25 secondsRobert Louis Stevenson
- Crossing the Bar55 secondsAlfred, Lord Tennyson
- Invictus55 secondsWilliam Ernest Henley
- Because I could not stop for Deatha minute and a halfEmily Dickinson