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 for ever: 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.
W. H. Auden
This is one of the best 'lost love' poems in the English language. Why? Even though at first glance Auden's verses seem almost childlike, their magic is that they bring to life the ongoing misery of loss, that seems to creep into every part of day-to-day life. Just look at how many references he makes to the normal 'non-poetic' items we deal with every day: clocks, telephone, dog, planes, traffic policemen …
At the same, time, Auden makes it clear that the loss of love is a truly profound and gut-wrenching loss by showing how it genuinely feels as though the beloved has died and gone forever: 'Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come … He is dead ...'
One last effect that Auden creates here is to show how universally huge and important the loss seems to him. He does this in two ways that make the whole world and natural environment seem less important than the love that has now died and gone. The first method he uses is to say how the lost love was everything and everywhere, and even at all times in the world: 'He was my North, my South, my East and West … My noon and midnight …'
The other method Auden uses is to mention 'packing up' and 'dismantling' the moon and sun as though they are as small and unimportant now as cardboard stage props. Similarly he describes 'pouring away' the ocean like dirty water, and 'sweeping up' the wood, like dust or crumbs. In other words, with these vivid images, Auden makes it clear how devastating the loss of the love has been, because without love the whole world now seems worthless and puny to him - something to be just thrown away.
As he says, 'For nothing now can come to any good.'
But BEING miserable (for however long a time) is not the same as STAYING miserable forever. However bad you feel after breaking up with someone, the question is: do you want to stay broken up, or do you want to get back together again?
If the answer is 'I want to get back together again' then, frankly, you need more than melancholy love poetry to help you achieve that goal. You need a plan … and some expertise.
That's where the rest of this site's links and resources may come in helpful!
But, of course, if by chance you just happened to be looking for a good weepy poem about lost love, you could do worse than learning the above by heart.
