Monday, August 23, 2010

Four Weddings and a Funeral

I recently re-watched this movie and enjoyed it immensely. It stands the test of time, in my book. The Auden eulogy read at the funeral remains one of the best eulogies I've read. The text is here, with a link also to the youtube reading of the poem from the movie.

Funeral Blues

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 forever: 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.

W.H. Auden


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_a-eXIoyYA

(No embed code is given on the site)

1 comment:

Toni said...

I recently watched it again too, Pris, and it does stand the test of time...and makes me sad that there are so few good movies like that being made today.