Euphony & Cacophony

Some English letters sound naturally pleasant or unpleasant to the ear. Knowing this, poets can arrange their language to deliberately create a sense of euphony or cacophony. 

Introduction

In English, some letters and letter combinations sound pleasing, while others sound unpleasant. 

While this is a broad, subjective generalisation, it is also the basis of two well-known poetic effects: euphony and cacophony.

Here we examine the specific letters which can lead to either effect, and the moods they evoke in listeners. 

Euphony 

Some words sound nicer than others, but why is this?

Well, to begin with, anything to do with what does—or does not—sound nice is subjective. What you think sounds nice may well be different to what the person sitting next to you thinks is pleasant. 

In addition, with regards to euphony, we are talking about nice, not good. I happen to think the word catharsis sounds cool, but I wouldn't say it sounds nice. Thus, for the purposes of this guide, euphony=pleasant. 

Okay, so what words sound pleasant? Well, words that are easy to pronounce generally sound nice: if something is simple to say, it is probably pleasant to hear. 

In addition, words with "soft" sounds such as L, M, N, R, and W, generally sound pleasant.

(Note that even though the last example has a negative connotation, it still sounds nice.) 

Words with "fuzzy" sounds are also pleasant sounding. These include V, Z and the hard Th sound (as in that).

Finally, words with "hissing" sounds such as F, H, S, and Sh can also sound pleasurable.

Note how John Keat draws upon a variety of pleasant-sounding words to create a sense of euphony in the opening lines of his poem To Autumn:

Note the prevalence of the letters L, M and F throughout the composition. Keats's use of such sounds creates a pleasant sense of euphony, which helps to evoke a gentle, relaxing mood in the listener. 

Again, such things are subjective, and there are plenty of other ways to create a sense of euphony through combinations of rhyme, rhythm and language. 

And, as always, the only way to know if something sounds nice is to read it out loud—you won't catch it if it stays in your head. 

Cacophony

Unlike euphony, cacophony is about creating something that sounds bad. 

Why on earth would a poet want to do this? 

Well, while euphony can help to evoke a pleasant, gentle mood, cacophony can evoke a discordant, chaotic atmosphere if a dark or unsettling mood is required. 

To experience some cacophonous sounds, let's consider an example from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, an epic poem about a sailor who is punished for the senseless killing of an albatross.

In this poem, the mariner's punishment takes the form of a series of supernatural encounters that lead to the death of the ship's crew, and unending torture for the sailor who seemingly cannot die. The poem explores themes of sin and atonement, and Coleridge spends much of the narrative revelling in the sailor's punishment for his crime against nature. 

To reflect the dark undertones of his poem, Coleridge's language choices evoke a harsh—almost cruel—mood, as seen in the following lines

These lines do not sound pleasant—but why is this? 

As opposed to the soft, fuzzy consonants we looked at earlier, there is a reliance here on consonants like B, K and the hard G. 

These are examples of "explosive" consonants, which require us to create pressure with our lips or tongue before releasing sound. 

Other examples of such consonants are D, P, T, Q and Ch, all of which can be used to evoke a sense of cacophony in the listener.

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