Famous funeral poems

The readings people reach for again and again. There's comfort in a room that already knows the words before you say them.

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17 poems

A Psalm of Life

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · 1838

Tell me not, in mournful numbers, Life is but an empty dream!

2 min

Who's it for

Someone who never sat still and left things behind them: a business, a trade, a houseful of people they taught. Right for a life spent being useful.

UpliftingA classicPlain EnglishReligiousTraditional

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Crossing the Bar

Alfred, Lord Tennyson · 1889

Sunset and evening star, And one clear call for me!

45 sec

Who's it for

Someone who had a long life and was ready. Especially right for anyone who went to sea, or just loved being near it.

ReligiousTraditionalA classicComfortingGentleOutdoorsyA long lifePeace at last

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Death Is Nothing At All

Henry Scott Holland · 1919

Death is nothing at all. It does not count. I have only slipped away into the next room. Nothing has happened. Everything remains exactly as it was. I am I, and you are you, and the old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged. Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.

2 min

Who's it for

Almost any funeral, and it is the reading most families have already heard. Right for someone whose house was full of easy talk and jokes.

ComfortingGentlePlain EnglishA classicReligious

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Death, be not proud

John Donne · 1633

Death, be not proud, though some have callèd thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so:

55 sec

Who's it for

A believer, and a family who want something with some fight in it rather than a quiet goodbye. It suits a person who argued back all their life.

A classicReligiousUpliftingStoicUnusual

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Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep

Mary Elizabeth Frye · 1932

Not shown here, because the poem is still in copyright.

Who's it for

Almost anyone, honestly. It's best of all for someone who was always outside: out walking, in the garden, never in the house.

A classicComfortingOutdoorsyNon-religiousGentlePlain EnglishModern

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Fear No More the Heat o' the Sun

William Shakespeare · 1623

Fear no more the heat o' the sun, Nor the furious winter's rages:

50 sec

Who's it for

A person who worked hard all their life and had had enough by the end. It also fits someone who never cared much who was important and who wasn't.

A classicTraditionalComfortingPeace at lastStoicA long lifeAfter dementia

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For the Fallen

Laurence Binyon · 1914

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old, Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

15 sec

Who's it for

Anyone who served, and especially someone who died young in uniform. Right for a family who want the words everybody in the room will already know.

For a veteranTraditionalA classicGone too soonPlain English

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Funeral Blues

W. H. Auden · 1936

Not shown here, because the poem is still in copyright.

Who's it for

Someone who was everything to one person. It's for a mourner who doesn't want cheering up yet, and there's nothing better for a partner.

Tear jerkerNon-religiousA classicSuddenFor a partnerModern

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Invictus

William Ernest Henley · 1888

Out of the night that covers me, Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

50 sec

Who's it for

Someone who got dealt a hard hand and never let it decide who they were. The person others called stubborn and you would call brave.

StoicA classicNon-religiousFought to the endFor a veteran

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