Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Essential Question: How can a poem reflect the realities of an era? How can poetry help to capture
and preserve history?
Introduction: What types of sounds, smells, or images capture your attention? At what point does something strange
become more scary or threatening? The poem in this lesson is about people who are alarmed by strange sounds,
smells, and images to the point that they eventually become very frightened when they realize that they are in grave
danger.
Making the Connection: Imagine a situation that may cause you to panic. It could be something as dangerous as
getting lost in a foreign country or as mild as forgetting to study for a math quiz. Compose a brief paragraph
explaining your physical and mental reaction.
Poetic Form: The Ballad
Although W.H. Auden was a modern poet, he used a traditional ballad form for O What Is That Sound. A ballad is a
narrative poem that is intended to be sung or recited aloud. Usually, a traditional ballad focuses on a single tragic
event and typically implies more than it tells explicitly. Typically, a ballad includes:
A plot, characters, and setting
Dialogue and repetition
A regular and simple rhyme scheme (such as abb or aabb)
Analyzing the Text: Sound Devices
Poets carefully chose their words, as diction, or word choice, affects a poems meaning, its tone, and the way it
sounds. Sound devices such as repetition and rhyme can create rhythm, mood, and highlight the poets ideas. In O
What Is That Sound, Auden utilizes these sound devices to create suspense, an anxious tone, and meaning:
Rhyme: Similar sounds at the ends of lines (end rhyme) or within lines (internal rhyme)
Repetition: repeated words or phrases (morning, morning)
Assonance: repetition of vowel sounds within words that dont rhyme (only soldiers)
As you read and/or listen to the poem, identify instances of sound devices, and notice how they help craft a feeling of
anxiety.
Skills for Reading: Analyze Speakers
In the poem you are about to read, everything you learn about the story and the characters feelings comes from the
dialogue between the two speakers. While reading, use the reactions of the speakers to imagine what is happening.
Look for changes in either speakers attitude. In a graphic organizer like the one below, keep track of what you are
able to infer about the speakers, including who they are and how they react to the events early and later in the
poem.
Speaker #1:________________________
Initial Reaction
Later Reaction
Speaker #2:________________________
Initial Reaction
Later Reaction
Auden in 1939.
Close Read
O What is That Sound
Poem by W.H. Auden
Close Read
Analyze Visuals: What is the mood created by
this painting? Find the elements of the subject
matter, shape, and color that contribute to the
mood and explain their role in creating mood.
Or perhaps a warning.
O why have they left the road down there,
Why are they suddenly wheeling, wheeling?
Perhaps a change in their orders, dear,
Why are you kneeling?
O haven't they stopped for the doctor's care,
Haven't they reined their horses, horses?
Why, they are none of them wounded, dear,
None of these forces.
O is it the parson they want, with white hair,
Is it the parson, is it, is it?
No, they are passing his gateway, dear,
Without a visit.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Repetition
Assonance
7. Interpret Imagery Reread the lines below from the last stanza of the poem. Make note of the description of
the soldiers and their actions. Based on this imagery, what is your impression of the soldiers? Will they defend
the speakers or attack them? Explain your answer using details from the poem.
O it's broken the lock and splintered the door,
O it's the gate where they're turning, turning;
Their boots are heavy on the floor
And their eyes are burning.
8. Evaluate a Ballad In this ballad, one speaker asks a series of questions, and a second speaker provides
answers. How does this pattern of repetitive dialogue affect the level of tension throughout the poem? Explain
your answer.
9. Consider Historical Context Auden wrote this poem in the 1930s. During this decade, several European
countries, including Germany and Italy, were being conquered over by fascist dictators. These dictatorial leaders
maintained total control over every aspect of public and private life and used brute force to crush opposition,
even of ordinary citizens. In what manner does this poem mirror these political realities of the 1930s?
10.
Enduring Understanding: Reread the essential questions. Does this poem help to capture an era of
history in a way that prose cant? How does this poem help you to understand this era of history? Explain your
answer.