Wednesday, 13 February 2013

W.H.Auden- O What Is That Sound

How is the story told??

  • It is a ballad- which is in quatrain (4 lines per stanza)
  •  Form-it is a conversation- call and response between a couple.
  • It is subjective
  • It is phonetic ( the repetition of drumming drumming)
  •  Binary opposition of 'brightly' and 'weapons'
  • 'O' is an exclamation of dispair, used at the start of every stanza- it's woeful. The reassurance of 'only'
  • ABAB regular rhyming pattern and metre
  • Setting- in the war, the soldiers are coming for the man.
  • The title is missing a question mark.
  • The tone changes in stanza 7- 'cunning' - showing the end is coming- change in diction.
  • Each line of each stanza sums up and tells the story.
  • The story is of someone trying to evade signing up to fight or on the run from the army.

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