One literary device that is immediately evident is alliteration, the repetition of initial consonant sounds. In this case, the alliterative words are "sooner," "sunk," and "silence"; both words begin with the letter "s," creating a specific form of alliteration called sibilance (repetition of the "s" sound). Sibilance is evident also within the words "answered" and "voice."

Another device that appears is assonance, the repetition of vowel sounds. The long “u” sound in “sooner” repeats in “tomb.” The long “o” sound in “blows” repeats in “voice.”