Sound & Sense: Chapter 13

1.   A) The alliteration of “g” in “guide” and “guard” gives a sharper image of virtue as the speaker’s guide than virtue that will “point your way” and “keep you safe.”

2.   A) Although “harsh” and “rough” are cacophonous words, they sound more euphonious together than “harsh” and “crabbed.” The euphony compliments the subject of music.

3.   B) The consonance of “out-cast,” “crows,” “croak,” and “across” is cacophonous to represent the harsh croaking of the crows.

4.   A) The consonance of “talk” and “attests” is euphonious to compare the serenity of her voice to singing gold.

5.   B) The consonance of “myriads,” “moan,” “immemorial,” and “murmuring” is euphonious and uses the mellifluous consonant “m” to represent the fluidity of the streams.

6.   A) “Straining harsh discords and unpleasing sharps” is more cacophonous than “In harsh discordant tones with doleful flats” to stress the unpleasantness of the lark’s out of tune singing.

7.   A) The “bombs,” “bastions,” “batteries,” “bayonets,” and “bullets” of quotation B) are too euphonious to describe the harsh words of war, so quotation A) is the better version.

8.   A) The consonance of “sisters,” “incessantly,” “softly,” and “soiled” is euphonious to demonstrate that Death and Night are forever linked, and that one does occur without the other.

9.   Quotation A) is cacophonous to represent the speaker’s distraught feelings of the day coming to an end.

10.  B) The onomatopoeia of “flap” expresses the movement of the bug’s wings and the consonance of “stinks” and “stings” suggests the strength of the bug’s power.