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 crêpe [bows]1 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]2 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 woods; 
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Britten: "bands"
² Britten: "could"

Authorship:

• by W. H. (Wystan Hugh) Auden (1907 - 1973), no title, appears in The Ascent of F6, first published 1936 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

• by (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "Funeral Blues", 1937, published 1980 [ voice and piano ], from Cabaret Songs, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Wayne L. Davies (b. 1975), "Stop all the clocks" [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Mervyn, Lord Horder, the Second Baron of Ashford (1910 - 1998), "Stop all the clocks" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Betty Roe (b. 1930), "Stop all the clocks", published 1980 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Ned Rorem (1923 - 2022), "Stop all the clocks", published 1965 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], from Poems of Love and the Rain, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Ned Rorem (1923 - 2022), "Stop all the clocks", published 1965 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], from Poems of Love and the Rain, no. 16 [sung text not yet checked]
• by T. Wallace Southam , "Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone", published 1966 [ voice and piano ], from Poetry Set in Jazz [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this text: David K. Smythe

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 137