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
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Page 8
... Verbal signification is primarily referential . But because it does not occur at the pole itself , it always draws to a greater or lesser degree on the energy of combination . The verbal sign , though it always points to a sig- nified ...
... Verbal signification is primarily referential . But because it does not occur at the pole itself , it always draws to a greater or lesser degree on the energy of combination . The verbal sign , though it always points to a sig- nified ...
Page 67
... verbal meaning originates . The third offers no solution ; instead it becomes just one more way of naming , until verbal language looks be- yond itself for a way to understand itself . 28 This it does by turning to music , where it ...
... verbal meaning originates . The third offers no solution ; instead it becomes just one more way of naming , until verbal language looks be- yond itself for a way to understand itself . 28 This it does by turning to music , where it ...
Page 80
... Verbal and musical utterances do not make sense in the same ways and at the same pace within their respective utterances . The words and the music of a song are bound to disagree at certain points , and the song- writer has to know how ...
... Verbal and musical utterances do not make sense in the same ways and at the same pace within their respective utterances . The words and the music of a song are bound to disagree at certain points , and the song- writer has to know how ...
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