Summary

The poem immediately begins with imperative commands. The speaker addresses an unknown listener, telling them to “stop all the clocks” and “cut off the telephone” (1). At the end of the first stanza, the speaker makes clear that this is his way of responding to a death, as he asks the other to “bring out the coffin, let the mourners come” (4).

The second stanza grows further in scope beyond the objects in the speaker’s house. He gives further instructions for the death of the loved one to be recorded everywhere in the environment around him, from the “aeroplanes” (5) that should write “the message ‘He is Dead’” (6) to the “crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves” (7) and the “black cotton gloves” that the “traffic policemen” (8) must put on.

Moving into the third stanza, the speaker begins to explain the significance of the...