Funeral Blues read the poem in memory of Denholm Reynholm, before he is interrupted by the return of Reynholm's son, Douglas. Funeral Blues "Funeral Blues" or "Stop all the clocks" is a poem by W. H. Auden. An early version was published in 1936, but the poem in its final, familiar form was first published in "The Year's Poetry" (London, 1938). The first, and less widely known, version of the poem, written and published in 1936, has five stanzas; the 1938 final version has four. Only the first two stanzas are the same in both versions. The 1936 version was a satiric
Funeral Blues Christopher Isherwood. The 1938 version was written to be sung by the soprano Hedli Anderson in a setting by Benjamin Britten. This version was first published in the anthology "The Year's Poetry, 1938", compiled by Denys Kilham Roberts and Geoffrey Grigson (London, 1938). Auden then included it in his book "Another Time" (New York, 1940) as one of four poems headed "Four Cabaret Songs for Miss Hedli Anderson"; the poem itself was titled "Funeral Blues" in this edition. (Auden never gave the poem any other title.) The text in the British edition of "Another Time" has a misprint, showing "woods"