What W. H. Auden's Funeral Blues is, why families use it after Four Weddings and a Funeral, and how to place it in a service without reprinting the verses.
Funeral Blues is a short elegy by W. H. Auden, also searched as Stop all the clocks. Families often know it from the 1994 film Four Weddings and a Funeral. It is still under copyright. Do not reprint the verses in a program. Use a title-and-author line, link an authorized text for the reader, and choose a public-domain poem if you need printable wording.
For public-domain funeral poems you can print, open Funeral Poems and read the full text there.
| Part | What to include or confirm |
|---|---|
| What it is | A four-stanza elegy by W. H. Auden, often requested after the 1994 film. |
| Copyright | Not public domain. Do not reprint the verses. Use title and author in the program. |
| In the service | Give the reader an authorized copy. Place it as one reading, not beside another long poem. |
| If you need print | Choose a public-domain elegy from the funeral poems library instead. |
By the Funeral Program Maker Editorial Team · Published · Updated · Editorial standards
This page does not reproduce any line of Funeral Blues. Use an authorized source for the text, then decide how the reading and the printed program will treat it.
Funeral Blues is by W. H. Auden. People also search for it as the Four Weddings and a Funeral poem. The version families usually mean is the later cabaret elegy, not the longer satirical song from the 1936 play. Get the authorized text from a collected edition or an official poetry site before anyone practices.
Reader name, authorized source for the text, and the exact title to print: Funeral Blues — W. H. Auden.
Auden first wrote a version in 1936 for The Ascent of F6, a verse play with Christopher Isherwood. That setting was satirical, and Benjamin Britten put it to music. Auden later rewrote it as a cabaret song for the singer Hedli Anderson, again set by Britten. The later version was published in 1938 and titled Funeral Blues in the 1940 collection Another Time, among Four Cabaret Songs for Miss Hedli Anderson. In 1994, John Hannah's character Matthew reads it at Gareth's funeral in Four Weddings and a Funeral, which is why so many families ask for it now.
One sentence you can tell guests: it is Auden's elegy, known to many from the 1994 film.
Give the poem its own moment. It usually sits after the welcome or scripture, or just before a spoken tribute. Do not place it next to another long poem or a second eulogy. If someone is already giving a full eulogy, the Auden reading can be a separate, shorter pause. Mark it in the order of service as a reading, with the reader’s name.
Service slot: after welcome / before tribute / before closing. Reader: ___ .
Pick someone who can read slowly and still recover if they cry. This poem is a compact wave of grief, so a backup reader should hold a second copy. Print the authorized text in large type, mark breaths at the stanza breaks, and look up at the last stanza rather than rushing it. The reader does not need to memorize it.
Reader, backup reader, large-type copy, and a pause marked after each stanza.
Funeral Blues is not public domain. Auden died in 1973, and the 1938 and 1940 publications remain under copyright. Do not type the verses into a funeral program, prayer card, or order of service. Print a title-and-author line, and optionally the reader's name. If a relative insists on the full text in print, stop and confirm reprint permission with the rights holder or the funeral home before you send a file to a printer.
Program line: Reading / Funeral Blues — W. H. Auden / Read by ___ .
If you need printable wording, or if the reader wants something they can keep in the booklet, switch to a public-domain elegy. Rossetti's Remember, Tennyson's Crossing the Bar, and Stevenson's Requiem have a similar farewell tone and can be printed with attribution. Keep Auden as a spoken reading from an authorized copy, or replace it entirely.
Spoken: Funeral Blues from an authorized copy, or printed: a public-domain poem from the library.
Choose a public-domain funeral poem, read the text, and place the approved lines in the program.
It is W. H. Auden's Funeral Blues, also searched as Stop all the clocks. In the 1994 film, Matthew reads it at Gareth's funeral. Use an authorized collected edition or an official poetry site for the text. This page does not reprint it.
No. It remains under copyright. You may usually name the title and author in a program. You should not reproduce the verses unless you have permission.
Not without reprint rights. Print a title-and-author line, and have the reader work from an authorized copy. If you need the words in the booklet, choose a public-domain poem instead.
It is short, direct, and widely recognized after the 1994 film. It gives a room language for shock and love without asking the reader to invent a speech. That is also why it should be read slowly and not doubled with another long tribute.
Christina Rossetti's Remember, Tennyson's Crossing the Bar, and Stevenson's Requiem are public domain and often used as elegies. You can read and print them from the funeral poems library.