In stanza one, the tinkling sound of the brook is onomatopoeically implied by the sibilance of the words "sudden sally . . . sparkle." In the last line of the same stanza, the brook is described as "bicker(ing) down a valley." The word "bicker" suggests that the brook is becoming a little noisier as it moves from "among the fern" and tumbles "down a valley."

In stanza four, the river, who is personified as the speaker of the poem, says, "I chatter over stony ways, / In little sharps and trebles." The word "chatter" implies a busy sound—not quite loud but not quite quiet either. The brook is also described as producing short, high-pitched sounds like "sharps and trebles." In the same stanza, the brook says, "I bubble into eddying bays, / I babble on the pebbles." The repetition in these lines of the letter "b" onomatopoeically suggests the bubbling, frothing sound of the brook as it passes over "stony ways."

In the penultimate stanza, the river says that it "murmur(s) under moon and stars / In brambly wildernesses." The word "murmur" here implies that the brook is at this point producing a quiet but constant sound, perhaps something like a gentle rumbling. This is the sound the brook makes as it passes through the foliage of the "brambly wildernesses."