Literature Glossary

Don’t be an oxymoron. Know your literary terms.

Over 200 literary terms, Shmooped to perfection.

Cacophony

Definition:

Cover your ears, Shmoopers. Cacophony is a big old racket, made by combining lots of harsh, discordant noises. Cacophony is the opposite of euphony.

William Carlos Williams's poem "Great Figure" features cacophony, but it's perhaps most famously used in Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky."