Reading Journal - O What Is That Sound

• Phonetics - repeated, 'o', sound of woe, repeated 'd' in drumming, drumming - heartbeat, coundown
• ABAB rhyme scheme - song like - ballad form - nursery rhyme (Miss Gee)
• Childlike - inquisitiveness - 'what is that sound', 'what is that light'
• Quatrain stanzas - help to easily identify change in mood/tone
• Extended metaphor of sickness - again, nursery rhyme, may be used to show the soldiers and war as a plague
• Present tense throughout entire poem - done to make the reader feel like they are living it too, also to show the character feels like she is reliving it constantly, cannot escape haunting memory
•  Imagery and sound - 'scarlet soldiers', 'white hair', 'drumming', 'flashing', 'brightly' - almost hazy, phantasmagoria? - dreamlike, she doesn't want to accept reality
• Call and response - poem is a conversation between husband and wife 
• Subjective - poem is filled with the character herself, and a lot of emotion toward the end - helps to put reader in her position