3.2.4 Sound Variation

Finally the unique music of a poem is often achieved through the use of sound variation. The first use of sound variation is found in onomatopoeia. Then there is euphony as well as cacophony.

Onomatopoeia is a literary device in which the sound of the word used resembles its meaning. The reader, through feeling a correspondence between sound and sense, is enabled to "hear" what is happening or what is being described. The suggestiveness of onomatopoeia lends itself as a support to both what rhythm and rhyme are attempting to achieve.

See the example below:

I chatter over stony ways,
  In little sharps and trebles,
I bubble into eddying bays,
  I babble on the pebbles.

(From Alfred Lord Tennyson's "The Brook")
(In Poets and Poetry (1992). R.K. Sadler, T.A.S. Hayllar & C.J. Powell (Eds.). Melbourne: Macmillan Education.)

The words in italics are examples of onomatopoeia and conjure up for the reader the sounds of the swift moving brook and the sounds it makes as it moves and swirls. Tennyson has made the onomatopoeic words occur in the first stress position in each of the lines. Thus he has accentuated the sense of sound and helped it fit into the iambic pattern of the line with its ever-rising motion which captures the on-going movement of the brook Alliteration and consonance also play a role in the stanza to enhance the movement and music of the poem. The repetition of the "b's" and "t's" make an explosive atmosphere of swift, flowing water noisily moving along and is supported by the repetition of "l's". The combination of "bb" and "l" no less than four times in three short lines indeed creates a lively brook.

Euphony consists of a succession of light, harmonious syllables which would obviously contribute to the feeling elements of the poem, namely, tone, mood, atmosphere, but also resonate with the poet's chosen rhythm.

Cacophony is the opposite of euphony. It consists of a succession of harsh, slow-moving syllables, which, like euphony, also resonate with the poet's chosen rhythm. Where euphony creates harmony, cacophony generates discord.

See an example below in which the first two lines contain euphony and the last two, cacophony. The poet has been able to establish a clear contrast in feeling:

Soft is the Strain when Zephyr gently blows,
And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows; (euphony)
But when loud surges lash the sounding shore,
The hoarse, rough verse should like the torrent
roar
. (cacophony)

(From Alexander Pope's: "An Essay on criticism")
(In Seven Centuries of Poetry in English. (1991) J. Leonard (Ed.). (rev. ed.). Melbourne: Oxford University Press.)