Why did W.H. Auden title sad poems with flippant titles?

[Derrearde]

I have just been reading Auden's 'Stop all the clocks', a sad poem about a loved one dying. But it is also entitled, rather flippantly, 'Funeral Blues'. He had a habit of naming some other of his sad poems with light-hearted titles. I was just wondering if anybody knew why he did this?

 

[pjlla]

You might want to ask the Mods to move this to another board.... maybe the community board. You're definitely in the wrong place with this here.

 

[NotUrsula]

Auden was most famous for his wit; he was known for his ability to generate brilliant off-the-cuff quips in conversation. Though it is an extraordinarily moving piece when done in the right mood (see Four Weddings and a Funeral), Funeral Blues was originally written as political satire; about the death of a "beloved" dictator (imagine people reciting it at the funeral of someone like Kim Jong-Il and you'll get the point.) Quite a lot of his pieces from that era were meant in the same vein.

Well, I'm going to add a note now because someone quoted my original answer, which I changed because it really didn't answer the OP's question; I realized that after I wrote it. Both of the things that I said are pretty much true, though Auden was probably not as deadpan about the title of Funeral Blues as I first implied.

 

[npmommie]

I have just been reading Auden's 'Stop all the clocks', a sad poem about a loved one dying. But it is also entitled, rather flippantly, 'Funeral Blues'. He had a habit of naming some other of his sad poems with light-hearted titles. I was just wondering if anybody knew why he did this?

When Auden wrote that, "blues" wasn't a joking term the way that it is now. Blues really meant blues; a verse about something sad. Early blues really was like that -- if you've ever listened to singers like Bessie Smith or Robert Johnson, it's really tearjerking stuff.

The scene in Four Weddings and a Funeral where John Hannah recites Funeral Blues at his lover's funeral service is one of the most moving in film, IMO, all the moreso because of how shockingly sober it is inside an otherwise rollicking comedy.

I don't know why he did that, but that scene in Four Weddings is the first time I heard that poem and it moved me so much.
I cry every single time I hear the poem or see that scene, or read the poem.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Juxtaposition is a good way to get someone's attention and since art is all about grabbing people it makes sense to me.