Considering the work of at least two of the poets you have studied, discuss how the poet’s use of sound devices contributes to meaning.

Sound is a crucial element of poetry because poems are designed to be read aloud. Sensory description and rhetorical devices related to sound are extremely powerful, as they make a description more vivid and animated, thus making it easier to convey a specific theme, tone or emotion to the reader or audience. This is evidenced by the specific choice of sound devices by both Wilfred Owen and Carol Ann Duffy in their poems ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ and ‘War Photographer.’ The poems depict the atrocities of warfare from two different perspectives and at different times; Owen discusses WWI and Duffy discusses modern warfare. However, they both communicate the idea that war is futile and that the public is blind to the realities of conflict by using a range of techniques, many of which are sound devices. 
The aggression and belligerence of war is a dominant theme in both poems. The diction of the language is what creates meaning, but this is accentuated by the use of sound devices which emphasise the antagonistic nature of war. Owen writes that ‘the stuttering rifles rapid rattle/ Can patter out their hasty orisons.’ The harsh, plosive sounds in this line create an atmosphere of hostility and depict war as being aggressive and powerful. They also increase the pace, which creates a sense of the constant and inescapable onslaught faced by the soldiers, thus evoking sympathy in the reader because they are given the impression that death and destruction are inevitable and unavoidable. To further illustrate this idea of incessant danger, the use of alliteration speeds the poem up and again implies that war is out of control. Conversely, Duffy uses a series of masculine caesuras which disturb the rhythm of the poem and slow it down – as opposed to the quickening pace of Owen’s poem – to create the same idea of war’s relentlessness. She writes, ‘Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh. All flesh is grass.’ The harsh full stops make the breaks in the line more emphatic, and, when read aloud, each section could almost mimic gunfire because of the plosive consonants of the names of the places. Furthermore, each pause forces the reader to dwell on the fact that war is happening all over the world – an idea that people find uncomfortable and so try to ignore. The reference to the bible and religion in the final sentence depicts the idea that human life is transitory, and the contrast between the idea that war is ceaseless and the almost peaceful recognition that death may provide escape is highlighted by the transition from aggressive plosives to softer, more languid sounds in ‘all’ and ‘flesh.’