Funeral poems for a husband or wife

For the person someone spent their life beside. These readings are about what two people built together, and what's left of it.

Poet

Reading time

For a partner

What happened

Sort

A to Z

5 poems

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

About this poem

Music, when soft voices die

Percy Bysshe Shelley · 1824

Music, when soft voices die, Vibrates in the memory;

20 sec

Who's it for

A musician or a singer, and anyone whose house was always full of music. It also fits a husband or wife, because what it says is that their love outlasts them.

For a musicianFor a partnerGentleTear jerkerNon-religiousComforting

Read the poem

Prospice

Robert Browning · 1864

Fear death?--to feel the fog in my throat, The mist in my face,

2 min

Who's it for

Someone who fought their illness all the way and wanted to know exactly what was happening. Also right for a person going back to a husband or wife who died first.

Fought to the endStoicUpliftingReligiousFor a partner

Read the poem