O What Is That Sound

Poetic Methods

Narrative Voice (Point of View):

Clearly, this poem has two narrators, one who desperately questions out of fear and a sense of urgency, while the other reassuringly answers and gives hope to the reader – like a dialogue. The eighth stanza (“O where are you going? Stay with me here!…”) suggests the two narrators are married.

Structure and Form:

This poem is striking in its use of repetition. Combined with the strong metre, the slow and steady rhythm that conveys a sense of a funeral march picks up pace and reveals a sense of urgency and desperation.

The poem follows an ABAB rhyme scheme, and the rhyming words at the end of every line emphasise the rigid structure of the poem. The “question-and-answer” form of the poem gives it an almost nursery rhyme effect.

The repetition in every stanza shows the repeated occurrence of fear and desperation, while the shortness of the fourth line in each stanza adds to the tumbling rhythm of the poem.

Genre and Style:

The poem is a ballad, and written in a traditional ballad form with two narrators questioning and answering each other. Written in the inter-bellum period, the poem invokes an atmosphere or war or impending war. Several historical terrors come to mind, including the persecution of intellectuals by the Bolsheviks, or of minorities by the Nazis.

Setting:

The setting in this poem is that of a hillside town, and we can be sure of this as we see the phrase “down in the valley,” and “over the distance”. Also, this town seems to be pretty rural, as described are a “farmyard”, “the road down there,” and “horses”. We know little of the couple’s neighbours; just that nearby live a doctor, pastor and farmer.

Language and themes:

Firstly, every stanza begins with an “O” – this shows desperation and a fear of the unknown. The “thrills the ear” in the first stanza suggests something exciting; however, the “drumming, drumming” emphasises a betrayal to come, and a false sense of security. Every alternate line contradicts itself, and this furthers the image of confusion and panic throughout the poem. The “scarlet” used to describe the soldiers might be an echo to traditional 17th and 18th century British soldier uniform (“redcoats”) or it could just suggests the menace and hint of blood associated with that color.

The second stanza talks about the view from the couple’s window. The “flashing so clear” literally refers to sunlight, but also suggests gunfire.

The poem revolves highly around the oppression the civilians are undergoing – the “gear” shows how well-armed the soldiers are, while the reference to “usual manoeuvres” makes the reader wonder whether the narrators are used to such violence, and hence question whether it is a “warning” they hear. The “wheeling, wheeling.” The reference to “kneeling” suggests a repair to religion in troubled times.

Finally, the last stanza is narrated solely by the first voice, after the second has absconded. The use of the word “it’s” shifts emphasis from the persons of the soldiers to the terrible impersonality of the situation as a whole, including the abandonment by the second narrator.

The vulnerability of the people in this poem is emphasized first by their helpless observation of the soldiers, and reinforced for the first narrator when the second takes their leave in seeming betrayal.