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. |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 4
Page 82
... moon hath set " ( 324 ) . Besides regret and danger , what can follow ? Another kind of re - collection begins . Coming out of imagination and back to ordinary time , Madeline and Porphyro confront the essential difficulty of that ...
... moon hath set " ( 324 ) . Besides regret and danger , what can follow ? Another kind of re - collection begins . Coming out of imagination and back to ordinary time , Madeline and Porphyro confront the essential difficulty of that ...
Page 167
... moons would still be changing , though unbeknownst to him . Perkins says that for Keats , permanence is " lasting participation in some moment of fulfillment . " Here , the poet implies that this notion may not necessarily stand ...
... moons would still be changing , though unbeknownst to him . Perkins says that for Keats , permanence is " lasting participation in some moment of fulfillment . " Here , the poet implies that this notion may not necessarily stand ...
Page 173
... Moon and all her starry fays " ) . He enters the realm of " the coming musk - rose , full of dewy wine . " All is possibil- ity . Nothing is made or found . A way to preserve this state is to cease perceiving it . " Now more than ever ...
... Moon and all her starry fays " ) . He enters the realm of " the coming musk - rose , full of dewy wine . " All is possibil- ity . Nothing is made or found . A way to preserve this state is to cease perceiving it . " Now more than ever ...
Contents
The Varieties of Musical Experience | 29 |
Words Music and Interpretation | 59 |
The Romantic Uses of Sound | 98 |
Copyright | |
3 other sections not shown
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