How is the story told in Auden's "O What Is That Sound"?
The story of ‘O What Is That Sound’ by W H Auden is the story of two people (presumably husband and wife) who watch soldiers progressively marching increasingly close to their house. Towards the end of the poem the supposed husband betrays his fearful wife and leaves her to deal with the abnormal forces.
The constant rhythm and steady pace of the poem conveys the sense of a story with continuous action and the ABAB rhyming scheme emphasises the sound of the soldiers that are marching and “drumming” towards them, which brings the reader to feel more fear for the couple’s safety and what is going to happen to them. This poem is told with a sense of time and place confusion by Auden, and it could be argued this was done by Auden to make the reader feel as though they can relate the poem to real life experiences that they have been through. The story is also told with a the repeated phrase on line two which provides anticipation for the army and what is going to happen next.
This story is told in the form of a ballad and is communicated through Auden's use of question and response, with two narrators. This gives the reader an understanding that one of the characters is in more control and knows what is happening and the other character more anxious and desperate for answers and expresses this with a sense of urgency. In this case the husband/male is the one who is in control and the wife/female is the one needing constant answers. The wife questions “O where are you going? Stay with me here!” The use of the exclamation mark expresses to the reader the desperate need from the wife for her husband’s presence and the constant reassurance that she needs. From this quote you can also tell the husband is more independent and less reliant on his wife which could lead the reader to emphasis with the female in the poem.
Auden also tells the story with a use of location. The setting of this poem is on a hill. This is clearly shown by the wife expressing to the husband that the soldiers are “over the distance”. We can also tell that this hill is based in a rural town as there is a “farmer who lives so near” and “horses”. The fact that the location is not a specific location shows that Auden wanted to tell the story with a sense of realism and to create an increase of audience’s reaction. From the description of the location it is clear that this story is set in an area of conflict.
Auden tells the story by the narrative of this poem being a conversation between the two characters but changes to third person at the end. The last stanza does not feature any other voices and is told in third person, “O it’s broken the lock and splintered the door”. The “it’s” within this quote could be seen as a personified evil, however this is unclear what Auden is referring to as “it”. This detaches the reader from the characters within the poem and removes the reader which makes the reader less/not emotionally detached. Auden essentially controls the reader’s feelings towards the characters instantly. Maeve Darley