Alternatively known as Stop All the Clocks, the poem is displayed here in a rare manuscript form. Following a few iterations, the poem was published as Funeral Blues in the 1940 collection Another Time, which Auden dedicated to his partner Chester Kallman.

This 1937 manuscript is accompanied by a letter written by Auden to a Miss Boyd, who is scouting for poetry to include in a school’s anthology; Auden presumably suggested this poem, although he also states how difficult it is to write poetry for children.