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1. Music as image;
2. Musical forms in literary works;
3. Musical harmony in literature.
1. Absolute music;
2. Wagner and program music;
3. Deryck Cooke and the Wagnerian Leitmotif : Music as a suggestive
Language Commented [WU1]: Thus, music is neither a precise
knowledge with pre determined signifiers and signifieds , nor is it
meaningless, or devoided of any connotative meaning.
II. Eliot’s response to the Romantics: Against Romantic musical aesthetics. In this part I want to analyze how Romantic poets used musical
forms in their poems.
Later, It will help me to compare and contrast it with Eliot’s and
1. Sounds of nature and infertility; Stevens’ use of the same forms in their poems.
.
2. Against Romantic imagination: Music as a representation of reality;
3. The fallacy of Romantic form.
Chapter 1:
The objective of this chapter is to understand why Modernist authors were interested in the
use of other arts in their literary texts, as well as to explain how musical aesthetics is
applicable in the construction of a literary text. It interprets and explains the modernist interest
in the analogy between the arts as a quest for finding a new aesthetics that will cope with a
new situation that is the one of modernism. Furthermore, as our thesis mainly focuses on the
analogy between musical aesthetics and poetry, this chapter reviews and introduces the
different musical elements that are equivalent to the construction of a literary text. Our aim is
to explain how musical concepts such as harmony, polyphony form and structure can be used
in the creation of a literary text. These concepts will be further used in this work in order to
sustain our interpretation. Last but not least, since this thesis focuses not only on the form, but
also on the use of musical aesthetics to convey meaning in the text, this chapter discusses the
possibility of instrumental music,per se, to suggest concrete ideas to the audience. For this
purpose, this chapter makes references to the writings of Wagner and Liszt, in order to
illustrate the musicologists’ debate that took place in the 19th century, questioning the ability
of instrumental music to convey ideas and themes. Further evidences will be made by
referring to Coke’s systematic study, which tries to give an objective interpretation to
Wagner’s orchestralisation, aiming to prove the thematic connection that exists between
Chapter 2:
The second chapter of this thesis explores Eliot and Stevens’ use of music as a response to the
Romantics. One of the main traits of Modernist poetry is its reaction against the Romantic
theory of poetry. This chapter first explores how romantic poets such as Keats and
Wordsworth used music to convey romantic ideas such as the adoration of nature andthe use
of imagination to escape reality. Then, we resort to the romantic principles related to music as
a touchstone,in order to understand Eliot and Steven’s musical literary reactions against the
Romantics. Indeed, music in Eliot’s “The Waste Land” is often used to express the romantic
disillusionment and the modern desolation in a 20th century modernist context. Stevens’
reaction against the romantics differs from that of T.S Eliot. In “The Idea of order in Key
West”,while Stevens depicts nature as a source of chaos, he actually foregrounds the poet’s
role in transforming this chaotic reality into harmony. His poem “The Man with the blue
guitar” expresses his idea of supreme fiction,i.e.,of fiction and imagination as representations
of reality. Thus, while Eliot’s references to songs and music stand for a direct depiction of the
modern situation, Stevens uses music as a medium to mix reality and fiction, so as to convey
his ideal notion of supreme fiction. This chapter also explores Eliot and Stevens’s use of
Chapter 3:
The third chapter explores the relation between music and religion in Eliot and Stevens’
poetry. While Eliot’s belief in religious redemption can be noticed from his borrowing of the
musical notions found in Dante’s The Divine Comedy, Stevens’ musical imagery tends to
express the absence of God and secularity. Through the analysis of musical forms and
imagery, this chapter shows how Eliot seeks refuge in Christian redemption as a solution to
the modern man. His use of a cacophony of voices in “The Waste Land” and of celestial
music in “Four Quartets” illustrate Eliot’s borrowing from Dante’s The Divine Comedy and
presents his poetry as a quest for religious redemption. Wallace Stevens’ rejection of religion
does not put him on a nihilistic ground, though. Instead, through the use of musical images,
the reader understands that Stevens is able to find a substitute for religion in art, nature and
imagination. While his poem “Esthétique du Mal” contradicts Eliot’s spiritual suffering on
earth and accepts pain as part of reality, other poems, such as “Peter Quince at the Clavier”
and “Sunday Morning”, suggest that beauty and nature may act as substitutes for religion.
Chapter 4:
The fourth chapter explores Eliot and Stevens’ relation with literary tradition and their
contemporary reaction to it. While Stevens’ use of jazz music and American musical
American identity, Eliot’s reference to Wagner, as well as his use of Wagnerian leitmotifs and
concept of “total work of art”,s how his concernwith literary tradition and reverence for “the
mind of Europe”. Commented [U3]: Please add expected conclusion. And also
insert updated bibliography.
Expected Conclusion:
While both Eliot and Stevens used musical aesthetics in their poetry, its connotation differs
for both poets. While music aesthetic is used in Eliot’s poetry to reject romantic aesthetics and
to valorize the role of the literary tradition and religion in the redemption of the modern man,
the same musical aesthetics and techniques are used in Stevens’ poem to express antithetical
ideas. Indeed,Stevens rejection of the past and his search for a fresh American aesthetics
detached from Europe made his use of Musical metaphors, musical forms, and harmony
express the following ideas : reformulation of Romantic aesthetics, replacing religion with art
and music, rejection of the past and the search for the new. Based on such analysis, we
understand that both Eliot’s and Stevens’ use of musical aesthetics goes beyond formal
consideration and suggest different themes conveyed in the analyzed texts. Because Eliot and
Stevens treat the problem of modernity differently, the connotation of musical aesthetics in
their poems shows their explicit thematic antagonism. Thus, musical aesthetics, among other