Word Like a Bell: John Keats, Music and the Romantic PoetMusic was supremely important to the Romantic poets, particularly to John Keats. In this first book-length study on the subject, John A. Minahan explores Keats's work in relation to the art of music. Word Like a Bell considers Keats's major poems as well as his letters and minor verse. Writing in a jargon-free style, Minahan examines the relationship between the musical and literary manifestations of Romantic theory, and the connection between that theory and Keats's work. He then offers new insights into Keats's poetry and his era, among them a detailed explanation of why the "Great Odes" ought to be considered a single extended piece. Also receiving extensive treatment are Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, whose ideas and creations illustrate how music influences every aspect of Romantic thought. In his exploration of the relationship between different but related arts, Minahan both locates Romanticism in its historical and aesthetic context and expands the capabilities of literary criticism. He finds that music enables Romanticism to voice its fundamental concern about time and its passage, and shows us that an understanding of poetry's relation to music can enrich our appreciation of both arts while deepening our own experiences of time. This interdisciplinary study will appeal to readers of poetry and literary criticism and to professional musicians who would increase their understanding of an age's art, songwriters interested in word/music relations, and poets who crave an extensive discussion of poetic technique and craft that uses music as a way to clarify such points. |
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Page 70
... belief that each kind of experience , given certain circumstances , can have a place in that imagi- nation . In Keats's view , the task of the poet is to live through and with them all : not to choose one over the others , but to ...
... belief that each kind of experience , given certain circumstances , can have a place in that imagi- nation . In Keats's view , the task of the poet is to live through and with them all : not to choose one over the others , but to ...
Page 93
... belief in heavenly aid can come only by sloughing off complex , adult , experiential awareness , trusting instead the knowledge that proceeds from innocence . In either case , though , this fact remains : a large part of the way we feel ...
... belief in heavenly aid can come only by sloughing off complex , adult , experiential awareness , trusting instead the knowledge that proceeds from innocence . In either case , though , this fact remains : a large part of the way we feel ...
Page 119
... belief more assiduously than perhaps any other poet of the era . The actual sounds of words , in them- selves and in combination with other words , are crucial to the meaning of the poem - under certain conditions . We should not make ...
... belief more assiduously than perhaps any other poet of the era . The actual sounds of words , in them- selves and in combination with other words , are crucial to the meaning of the poem - under certain conditions . We should not make ...
Contents
The Varieties of Musical Experience | 29 |
Words Music and Interpretation | 59 |
The Romantic Uses of Sound | 98 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
achieve allows argued artist attention awareness Bate beauty becomes Beethoven begins called combination comes composed consciousness creates critical described difference dream early effect emotion empty enacts experience fact feel finally follow forward gives hear Heath ideas imagination important interpretation John Keats Keats's kind language lead less live loss lyric materials meaning melos memory mind move nature never notes odes once opposition ordinary organized particular passing past pattern perhaps poem poem's poet poet's poetic poetry possible present provides question re-collection reference region relation remains rhetorical rhyme rhythm Romantic Romantic poets says seeks seems sense shape Shelley song sonnet sound Special stanza structure suggests temporal theme thing thought tonal tone truth understand unfolding usual verbal verse voice wanted Wordsworth writing written