Cacophony is unpleasant sound combinations in writing or speech. It can be used in poetry to imitate loud sounds, represent discomfort, or for amusement. Poets use it to explore language limits and attract children’s attention.
Cacophony, which literally means “bad sound” in Greek, is a literary term that refers to jarring or unpleasant sound combinations in writing or speech. Writers generally avoid cacophonous sounds for the obvious reason that they are generally unpleasant to read. In poetry, however, there are times when cacophony can be used to produce certain emotional reactions in the reader, to describe a noisy situation, to convey a sense of unease, or simply to entertain with the use of unusual sound works.
The most obvious and literal use of cacophony in poetry is to imitate a loud, unpleasant sound. In this way, cacophony can be a form of onomatopoeia. Augusta Davies Webster does this in her poem “Circe,” the opening lines of which describe an oncoming storm that the speaker anticipates “splitting the howling branches” (line 13). The harsh-sounding “splitting” and “shrieking” both start with three consonants and have another strong consonant sound at the onset of the next syllable. The line also deviates slightly from the poem’s intended rhythm – iambic pentameter – adding to the raucous, unruly sound of the storm.
Secondly, cacophony can be used to represent discomfort of some variety, be it the speaker’s discomfort or an unpleasant situation that the poem is describing. This use can overlap with the previous one, since even noisy situations can be uncomfortable; but it can also be used to describe emotionally tumultuous situations. Gerard Manley Hopkins does this often in his Terrible Sonnets, a series of poems about religious doubt. In “Carrion Comfort,” the speaker describes despair: “Scan(ning) / With dark, devouring eyes my bruised bones” (line 6). This line’s cacophonous use of alliteration and its high number of stressed syllables echo the speaker’s inner turmoil.
Sometimes, however, a poet might use cacophony simply for amusement. Poets often use sound in unexpected ways to explore the limits of what language can express. This is especially common in children’s authors like Lewis Carroll or Shel Silverstein. The cacophony in the works of such authors can indicate loud noises or unpleasant situations, but just as often it can be an attempt to amuse and attract the attention of young children, whose ears may not catch more subtle sound works, but are receptive to the cacophony.
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