Auden o what is that sound theme

As Aden has been in love for the major part of his life, a lot of his poems talk about it or at least mention it. In this poem, Aden talks about the death of his lover.

This is pretty much the same in the poem underneath the abject willow. Indeed, in the two poems the lover is dead. This evolution of atmosphere is common with other poems such as The more loving one. The use vulgarity is a sign of how fed up the poet is. One person always loves more than the other does. The evolution of atmosphere can be from a negative one to a positive one as we have just seen but it can also be inversely such as in O what is that sound and Refugee Blues.

Indeed, in both poems, the atmosphere is quite pessimistic in the first stanzas but it becomes more and more obvious that the protagonists are wanted and that the end is going to be tragic. Those poems are both tragic as we understand that the characters are Jews wanted by the Nazi Germany. And she is not killed. At least that's what made from the poems ending. If that's not so, please explain her murder, I don't get it. And that was a beautiful description… I've ever read. Thank you, will help in my test.

But please do tell her murder. If you know anything about WH Auden you will understand that more likely than not the two speakers are a gay couple — and in the s that alone could be cause for them to be hunted by the forces of the state.

Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. William Green. Feel free to skip to the parts most relevant to you. OWITS is a poem about the universality of war through the use of war affecting the lives of the couple in the poem causing them to run away.

There is a sense of betrayal too depending on who you choose to be the first voice and second voice. The poem adopts the ballad form. This is a 18thth century form which is part of folk tradition. The imitation of ballad form is used to reflect upon the subject matter of war: there is no time obscure time choice. It is recognisably in ballad form due to the consistent four beats in musical terms for every line. Each stanza is four lines long. The structure explores how the material in the poem has been arranged.

It describes the shape of the stanzas, sound patters, any musical references and the rhyming patter too. Musically, the poem has four beats to every line. This helps to emulate the sound of drums and the marching of the soldiers developing tension the further on into the poem.

There are four feet to every line. The main point to notice with the structure is the rhythmic devices used above which emphasise the sound the soldiers are making being marching and drumming. There is a degree of regularity with the syllable count for every stanza. However, there are an erratic number of syllables on every line.

For example, stanza one has 10, 9, 8 and 5. The first two lines of every stanza except the last which is is third person features the women as the voice. The second voice is the man. For language analysis, I will refer to voice one as the women and voice two as the man. The language in a poem describes the effect of individual words and phrases.

This helps to produce a vague time period as well as other linguistic techniques. This is common for the last word of line two for each stanza producing alliteration. The man as voice two is attempting to reassure the women.

In the 19th century, soldiers commonly wore bright red scarlet uniforms so that if they were shot and wounded, the enemy would not be able to tell if they were bleeding or not.

The second option is more believable seeing that Auden does not want to pin down a time frame for this poem. The first stanza creates tension and drama for the arrival of the army.

Stanza Two. This gives a sense of inevitability of the soldiers arriving and reminds us that the soldiers are continually marching closer and closer to the couple. The marching has now increased in pace providing more fear for the couple. Stanza Three. This provides an idea that the army might be foreign if the couple views them as a threat. Stanza Four. This is desperate reassurance seeing because he knows they are a threat but he wants his wife to not know in protection of her.

Here are hints of the first betrayal. She could be kneeling to hide herself away from the army. However, she may be kneeling also in a last ditch attempt to pray. Stanza Five.

The rest of the poem features the second voice leaving the first voice and running away. This makes clear the tension between the couple.

The poem uses the question and answer pattern that occurs so frequently in the ballads, and presents a situation of balad-like drama and simplicity. The poem has a lot of psychological content. We find that we are inside the myth-world, looking around. No commentator from outside tells us what we are looking at or its significance. The poem is a well-known example of the popular style. It is a much compelling ballad. The poem has a music of its own; the folk-song style upon which it is based was of course developed tor singing to a fixed accompaniment and the convention of being written for singing to such accompaniment is essential to the style of this poem.

O What is That Sound Summary Stanza-1 In the first stanza the situation is that a soldier intends going to war, but he is persuaded by his beloved to stay with her. The whole poem is in the form of dialogue between the soldier and the beloved. The soldier hears the sound of the military land and asks his beloved to what is that sound of "drumming down in the valley, which so thrills his ears?

His beloved puts him off by saying that there are only a few soldiers dressed in the scarlet uniform. Stanza-2 The soldier then wants to know the flashing light being seen by him from a distance. The beloved replies that it is the sun shining on their swords, while the soldiers are doing march practice. Stanza-3 The soldier-lover then asks as to what those soldiers are doing with their armour this morning.

The beloved makes her to understand that it is their usual practice, or perhaps a warning to the enemy. Stanza-4 The soldier then wants to know as to why have they left that road down there, and the beloved tries to satisfy him by saying that perhaps they have been ordered to go that way. Then the soldier bends a little to see them from a distance. Stanza-5 The soldier-lover sees the marching soldiers stopping near the doctor's house, and asks his beloved as to why have they reined their horses there?

The girl says that none of the soldiers is wounded, and there is nothing serious. Stanza-6 Then the soldiers are seen stopping by the parson's house. But the beloved says that they are just passing his gate-way. Stanza-7 In the seventh stanza the soldier again sees them stopping by the farmer's house, and wants to know its reason. The beloved again replies that they have passed the farmyard and are running.

Stanza-8 In this stanza it is said that the soldler-lover can no longer ha stopped by his beloved. He wants to feel nature. He want to take a break from his busy life which is full of stress.

Answer: The isle of Innisfree stands for unadulterated natural beauty. A visit to Innisfree gives immense joy, pleasure and peace to the poet. The sounds of honeybees, crickets and the lake water lapping by the shore tempt him to go there again and again. In this poem, the speaker wishes to go to Innisfree to obtain the peace and solitary pleasures of life.

This place is the setting where Yeats spent his childhood years. Now situated in the bustling, chaotic city, he wishes to escape his urban setting.

Answer: The message that this poem conveys is that the peace which one can get in isolated or untouched areas with a lot of greenery can not be attained at any other place or with any sort of materialistic things or crowd of cities.

Answer: The image conveys a message that everyone should be confident of themselves. Whatever color, whatever position, whatever occupation, always be optimistic and believe that you can do anything as long as you have faith and put hardwork on it. Begin typing your search term above and press enter to search.

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