There May Be Many AnswersAuthor(s): Eckoe M. AhernSource: The English Journal, Vol. 51, No. 9 (Dec., 1962), pp. 657-658Published by: National Council of Teachers of EnglishStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/810264 .

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MODERN POETRY IN THE CLASSROOM 657

There May Be Many Answers ECKOE M. AHERN

Grossmont High 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 interest- ing 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 de- velop the action; both present a tragic situation simply. The violence common to ballads is present; and physical cour- age 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 writ- ing 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 in- terpretations and can't decide between them, both might be used in the composi- tion.

Opening the second day's poetry ses- sion 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 alarm- ing until the final line of stanza three- "Or perhaps a warning." In the follow- ing stanza the phrase "Suddenly wheel- ing" 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 JOURNAL

except the last become an insistent de- mand as the terror mounts. This repe- tition 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, detail upon 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 discussion leads naturally to the question, "What is the panic about? What is there to fear?" Students are in- vited to volunteer their interpretations, and the discussion takes a new direction. The poem is about war or violence of any kind such as earthquake or 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

forces of death which take away a loved one in spite of love. "But I thought it was a poem about a person's soul," says another. "Force and love compete for the man's soul. His religion and his work don't matter in the struggle. Force, with burning eyes, defeats love, and the heavy feet upon the floor represent the 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 responsibilities to the world and tear him away from home and love and peace."

After summarizing the possible mean- ings and restating the 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 conclusion would be a re-reading of the ballad by the same two students who read it at the beginning of the study. Maybe the whole class would prefer to read the answers as a single reader does the questions.

English Education Conference, March 28-30 The first NCTE-sponsored conference on English education, for specialists in

the teaching of English in the secondary schools, will be held at Indiana Universi- ty, March 28-30. Among major speakers are Robert C. Pooley, John C. Gerber, G. Robert Carlsen, and David H. Russell. Consultants include Dora V. Smith, Lou LaBrant, J. N. Hook, Lennox Grey, and Louise M. Rosenblatt.

A series of discussion groups will consider six topics: the methods course; research in English education; graduate programs in English education; prepara- tion of junior high school English teachers; English education programs in small colleges; liaison between departments of English and departments and schools of education.

The conference planning committee includes: Dwight L. Burton, Florida State University, chairman; Ingrid Strom, Indiana University; William H. Evans, Uni- versity of Illinois; William E. Hoth, Wayne State University; Sister M. Sylvia, Mount Saint Joseph Teachers College; M. Agnella Gunn, Boston University; R. C. Simonini, Longwood College; G. Robert Carlsen, State University of Iowa; and James R. Squire, Executive Secretary, NCTE.

Those planning to attend the conference who wish housing in the luxurious Indiana Union must register before January 1. Registration forms may be re- quested from Robert Hogan, NCTE, 508 South Sixth Street, Champaign, Illinois.

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