O What Is That Sound - Reading Journal

A type question

• Ballad
• Regualr metre
• Stanzas develop time
• In first person
• Use of imagery (red colours)
• Call and Response
• "O" is always at the start of the stanza
• Use of rhyme in every stanza
• Phonetic effects
• AB structure within each stanza
• Quatrain 4 line verse
• Subjective Voice

B type question

• Binary opposition with "brightly" and "weapons"
• Language "dear" is intimate, combined with "the vows you swore" and "I promised to love you, dear" suggets the voices are husband and wife
• Possible wife (1st voice) is in denial and that's why she seems naive / curious
• Possibly about conscription or he's wanted for deserting
• "I must be leaving" goodbye due to execution or conscription?
• The army is deindividualised in the last stanza
• The repeated O seems like and expression of dispair