Poetry can often encapsulate thoughts, feelings and emotions at a funeral service much more powerfully than prose. There are many poignant poems that can be used for this purpose. I have recorded a selection of some of the most popular. Click on the links below to listen to them.

 
Do Not Stand by My Grave and Weep

This was written by an American, Mary Elizabeth Frye, in the 1930s to comfort a young Jewish woman, Margaret Shwarzkopf, who had been unable to travel to Germany to mourn her mother’s passing because of the anti-semitic political climate in Germany at the time. It is a reminder that those who have passed away are all around us.

 

Not How Did He Die

This anonymous work is a fantastic way of telling us that it is not how we die, but how we live that is important.

 

Funeral Blues

Written by WH Auden in the 1930s, this work was used in the film Four Weddings and a Funeral by character Matthew (played by John Hannah) at the funeral of his partner Gareth (played by Simon Callow).

 

All is Well

This famous work originates from a sermon delivered by Henry Scott Holland, the Canon of St Paul’s Cathedral, after the death of King Edward VII in 1910.

 

Miss Me, But Let Me Go

This anonymous work is simply crafted. However, it manages to convey the messages that there is an afterlife; that death can be a release; and that life for the living must go on. It never fails to move me, no matter how many times I’ve heard it.