How is the story told in 'O What Is That Sound?'

Auden begins the poem using phonetics, 'O what is that sound,' which is done as the sound 'o' can be associated with woe or contemplation, and thus allows the reader to understand how the character is feeling. This is continued when he writes 'down in the valley drumming, drumming,' with the repeated 'd' sound actually sounding like the beat of a drum, possibly resembling a heart beat, which almost acts as a countdown throughout the poem to the climax. This idea may forebode something sinister or important is going to happen.

The poem uses an ABAB rhyme scheme so it is almost song like, which relates to its ballad form. This is effective as it seems like a nursery rhyme, when taking into consideration the time it is set, as many nursery rhymes come from macabre themes such as war or sickness. The reason this is effective is that it ties in which the tone of the poem in the second stanza, 'O what is that light I see flashing so clear, over the distance brightly, brightly?' the inquisitiveness and repeated questions makes this character seem childlike and therefore a nursery rhyme would appeal. This is effective as it raises questions about the character's age and the relationship they may have with the second character. We learn later that in fact it is a wife talking to her husband and this is interesting when considering tone.
     The poem being in quatrain form helps to easily identify the change in tone throughout the poem, for example, the first stanzas are childlike and use words with positive connotations such as 'thrill', 'light', and 'brightly', to show temporary comfort and lulls the reader into a false sense of security, however the tone changes when it reaches stanza seven. The mood of the language has changed, for example 'cunning', 'deceiving', 'broken', 'splintered', and 'burning'. This shows a juxtaposition in the character's emotion and also traces the transition of her being comforted to alert and panicking, and even possibly the transition from being childlike to having to mature and adapt to the situation very quickly.

An extended metaphor of sickness is used, when Auden writes 'scarlet soldiers' and 'their eyes are burning', as scarlet may fever to sickness, scarlet fever, and burning being a symptom. This is effective when considering that in the last stanza, the soldiers have their humanity taken away from them, they go from being referred to as 'they' to 'it', e.g 'O it's broken the lock'. This may be because now the wife has realised they are coming for her husband, she sees them, the war, as a plague or illness that cannot be evaded. This may be done to show Auden's feelings towards war and also shows how the poem is using the subjective, because the character is emotionally involved and therefore creates empathy within the reader. 

Present tense is used throughout the entire poem, through the use of an ongoing call and response, 'What are they doing this morning, this morning? Only their usual manoeuvres, dear, or perhaps a warning.'  This gives the feeling that the character is reliving the moment again and again, but also has the effect on the reader that they themselves are experiencing the situation. This brings empathy from the reader and makes the ending more dramatic and heart wrenching when this woman's husband is taken from her. This effect is also achieved through the use of chronology, instead of flashbacks and time being array, this helps to give the illusion that the reader is experiencing this in the exact same way as the wife. 

Imagery is used strongly when Auden writes things such as 'scarlet soldiers', which even though refers to the colour of their uniforms, it also connotes blood, 'flashing so clear' which creates the image of the sun glinting on their shiny weapons, and 'down in the valley, drumming drumming'. The reason this particular line creates imagery even though it does not refer to what can be seen, it works with the other aspects of imagery to create almost a sense of phantasmagoria, giving the image of almost a dream like scene, showing that the wife does not want to believe what is happening. Again this tells us more about the character and her recollection of the memory.