In W.H Auden's poem "Funeral Blues," the poet uses the persona of a woman who appears to be mourning a death. The poem is dark and gloomy, and filled with symbolisms and imagery .The poet uses symbols of literal death, in the first verse "Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come," and again in the second verse, "Put crepe bows round the necks of the public doves," leading us to believe he is speaking of actual death.

In the last line of the second verse, she states "Let the policemen wear black cotton gloves." We know that black is a symbol of death; we also know that policemen wear white cotton gloves at a funeral. This gives us the first insight that the woman is speaking of the death of love, rather then an actual death.

In the third verse, we find out the depth of...