May Swenson's "The Universe" is an abstract poem, so it doesn't use sound images that make us hear particular sounds such as a boom or a whisper. However, it does use sound effects to create a sense of rhythm and to reproduce the "going in circles" sensation that thinking about the universe can produce.

For example, to create rhythm in the poem, Swenson uses rhymes, such as "about" and "out," "within it" and "spin it," and "cause" and "laws."

Swenson also uses the word "about" as a homogram. Homograms are words that are spelled the same way but have two different meanings. Swenson uses "about" both to mean physically "outside of" or "around us"—as in "the universe about us"—and as a word meaning subject matter: what does the universe mean? What is it about? Is the universe "about us?" The word also becomes a pun: the universe is all about us and may be all about us. Making the same word carry so much weight has the sound effect of forcing us to slow down and listen more carefully to the poem.

Certain words are repeated so often, as well, that they tend to make our heads spin and threaten to become meaningless through repetition, which happens when you repeat a word over and over, such as "universe" or "think." This suggests that thinking too hard about what the universe is causes the universe, ironically, to elude us.

Alliteration occurs when words in close proximity begin with the same consonant. Swenson uses a series of words at the beginning of the poem that start with "w" to also create a rhythmic effect.

Swenson uses alliteration, the repetition of the initial consonant sound, with the words within, within, why, we, and we. The poem questions the nature of the universe, and this repeated "w" sound may remind us of the act of questioning since so many questioning words start with "w": why? who? what? when? where? She also uses multiple interrogative questions that end, of course, with question marks, to slow down the sounds and pace of the poem. We tend to pause longer after question marks than we do commas or even periods, and so these marks also affect the sound of the poem, making it seem more speculative. Swenson also uses repetition of words like within, think, we, spin/unspin, us, and universe. The repetition of the words and the sounds they contain remind us of the cyclical and collapsible nature of these kinds of questions and ponderings: we can get totally caught up in circles while trying to understand the nature of ourselves, the cosmos, and so on.

Swenson's poem plays upon sound effects in several ways. First and most simply, Swenson repeats words. This creates a pattern, especially when it is read out loud. Second, she uses words like "within" and "think" that share letter groups ("in"), but which do not rhyme. This creates a tension between sound and appearance on the page, much as there is a tension between appearance and reality in the universe. The repetition of the "what" and the "w" sound creates a rhythm—I hear it like a wave meeting the shore—that reassures even though it asks many questions and creates a questioning tone.