There May Be Many Answers

Author(s): Eckoe M. Ahern

Source: The English Journal, Vol. 51, No. 9 (Dec., 1962), pp. 657-658
Published by: National Council of Teachers of English
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MODERN

POETRY

IN

THE

CLASSROOM

657

There May Be Many Answers

ECKOE M. AHERN

GrossmontHigh School
Grossmont,California
A study of the ballad "O What Is
That Sound?" by W. H. Auden can be
used to help sophomores realize how
much poetry lends itself to individual
interpretation and to show how a poet
can adapt a traditional verse form to
suit his purposes. The material may also
stimulate a composition assignment.
The first step in the study is an oral
reading of the poem by two students
to show the effect of the dialogue. This
is followed by a similar reading of "Lord
Randal," previously studied, to show the
similarity of tone, theme, and structure
in the two ballads. A review of the
characteristics of the ballad form fits in
well at this point. For example, both
poems have the four-line stanza with
alternating rhyme, the four-stress line,
and the refrain. There seem to be some
variations such as the two-stress final
line in each stanza of "O What Is That
Sound?" and the same rhymes in every
stanza of "Lord Randal." The refrain, so
obvious in the old ballad, is an interesting contrast to that in the modem one
where the refrain is in thought rather
than form, except for the beginnings of
lines. Both poems use dialogue to develop the action; both present a tragic
situation simply. The violence common
to ballads is present; and physical courage and love, those common ballad
themes, are also found.
After this review, the teacher asks
each student to consider the mood this
poem has left with him and to write a
brief description of that mood and keep
the note for future use.
Then, a composition assignment for
the next day might be made, asking the
students to do some thinking and writing about "O What Is That Sound?"
without using other books but using just

the poem, their minds, and, most of all,

their imaginations. To help students get
started, some questions are helpful. What
could the poem mean? Could it mean
anything else? How do stanzas 5, 6, 7,
and 8 fit into whatever the poem seems
to mean? Who are the people in the
poem? What is their relationship? It is
here that the possibility of more than
one interpretation can be introduced by
suggesting that if students find two interpretations and can't decide between
them, both might be used in the composition.
Opening the second day's poetry session with "O What Is That Sound?" a
student reads the questions aloud and the
entire class responds with the answers.
This opens the door to a discussion of
mood. After reading and hearing the
notes made on the previous day, students
reach an agreement of sorts that there
is suspense in the poem, that the reader
is left in a mood of fright and despair,
with a sense of alarm, almost of panic.
How does Auden create such a mood?
One technique is a change in tempo
requiring the adaptation of the last line
of the ballad stanza from a four- to a
two-stress line. The first two stanzas
describe a pleasant, colorful scene, and
the only hint that all is not well is the
final line of each stanza which does not
fit the ballad but creates an abrupt sort
of stop that alerts the reader to trouble.
There is no other hint of anything alarming until the final line of stanza three"Or perhaps a warning." In the following stanza the phrase "Suddenly wheeling" speeds up the tempo which is then
slowed sharply by the final "Why are
you kneeling?" What drama-a whole
scene in those four words! The second
line repetitions in each succeeding stanza

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658

THE

ENGLISH

except the last become an insistent demand as the terror mounts. This repetition added to the speed and sudden
stop create a breathless,harried feeling
that reaches a peak in the next to the
last stanza."And now they are running"
picks up the speed until the gentleness
of the "No, I promised to love you,
dear"is almost lost in the haste of "But
I must be leaving."Then, the last stanza
is panic, detailupon detail,heavy-footed,
slow, deliberate.Throughout the poem,
the short, simple words, many of them
with harsh military sound and flavor,
the dialogue, the short ballad stanza
broken in pattern-all these help Auden
create the mood the class has felt.
This discussionleads naturally to the
question, "What is the panic about?
What is there to fear?"Studentsare invited to volunteer their interpretations,
and the discussiontakes a new direction.
The poem is about war or violence of
any kind such as earthquakeor hurricane.
"No," says someone else, "it is a love
poem, and the world comes to take away
her true love and she cannot keep him."
Another thinks the poem is about the

JOURNAL

forces of deathwhich take away a loved

one in spite of love. "But I thought it
was a poem about a person'ssoul," says
another. "Force and love compete for
the man'ssoul. His religion and his work
don't matterin the struggle.Force, with
burningeyes, defeatslove, and the heavy
feet upon the floor representthe soul's
march." "Maybe the man is a criminal
and the troops are the forces of law and
order." "Maybe they're the mob out to
lynch him." "Maybe those troops are
a person's responsibilitiesto the world
and tear him away from home and love
and peace."
After summarizingthe possiblemeanings and restatingthe main point of the
lesson-that a poem may have more than
one meaning, a question more than one
answer-the teacher might offer copies
of another Auden poem to anyone who
wishes to read more of him. An effective
conclusionwould be a re-readingof the
balladby the sametwo studentswho read
it at the beginningof the study. Maybe
the whole class would prefer to read
the answers as a single reader does the
questions.

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