Sound

Oliver's vast amount of knowledge in the English field is revealed in this chapter as she is able to go in depth about the alphabet and how it is crucial for poetic writing. Initially, this chapter seemed to be somewhat repetitive based on the information from the past. For instance, I was already aware of how many phrases could mean the same thing, yet the way they are expressed can convey different attitudes about it. The part that struck me was the talk about the alphabet and her deep analysis of it. Honestly, I have never heard of the alphabet breakdown like that before. It was a whole new revelation to me to think about w and y being added to potential vowels, words that are considered “hard” and “soft”. Unfortunately, I don’t really understand the meaning when a word is said to be “hard” or “soft” and this definitely contributed towards my confusion on the talk about the alphabet. Maybe I missed it…But I don’t think that these concepts were explained effectively for the readers.

While it was hard to follow the “hard” and “soft” talks at times, I still appreciate the examples used by Oliver. That definitely helped enhance the learning experience as the readers could actually see what Oliver was talking about. Using Robert Frost’s poem as an example was a great way to represent the ideas that she was talking about in regards to sound. Sound in poetry is something I personally do not watch out for because I never knew the true important on how it affects the overall voice of the story. I appreciate how Oliver does not establish a sense on superiority throughout this chapter and does not force us to think a certain way. She even says that most poets don’t even care about how many mutes and other devices they use in the poem. This helps show that it isn’t really necessary to check up on it, but, practice will help you ensure that you nail this in your first draft itself.