What is the relationship between music and poetic language? Is the power evoked by music also accessible to language? Or does language merely point to music?
There is an inextricable disconnect between music and language. Music is something heard. Language, something read. Music appeals to someone on an immediate level; One where immediate pleasures outweigh the critical analysis derived in language. Thus, disparity in immediacy and simplicity of thought and the requirement of analytics separates the two. While music and language both have the ability to sound the same, the process to arriving at the same sensation is inherently different. And it is in this difference that the two can never be seen as interchangeable, but rather different means to potentially equivalent ends.
Also, consider how Wackenroder’s story is a fairy tale. What elements are fairy-tale-like? And what makes it, more specifically, a Kunstmärchen?
Perhaps the most telling facets of this story that suggests it is a fairy tale is the suspended disbelief of the reader. That, and the mystic setting of the story. One where there is a mythical quality to its time and place.
The character being crazy most certainly suggests this fairy tale to be a Kunstmarchen. The literary freedom and stylistic qualities in the way the story was told also lends weight to this idea.
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Although music and literature use different sensory modalities, the experience of music and literature can have a similar effect on the person doing the experiencing. Like literature, music has tones, genres, and settings- all these artistic aspects have a an effect on how the person perceives the artwork, whether it be music or literature. Wackenroder understands this, and he attempts to show that the rationalization and separation of music from literature deprives the senses of experiencing the full emotional tie with art. His incorporation of literary musicality, i.e. poetry, as he describes the transition of the naked saint from the rational Enlightenment thinker to the Romantic sentimentalist illustrates that all forms of art need to be present at the same time to create a reality that is other-worldly and transcends the boundaries of rationality. Like the naked saint that is freed from the wheel of time's maddening roar, so too can the reader be freed from the numbing separation of artistic forms to fully experience the joy of creativity in its entirety.
ReplyDeleteMaggie8711, I hadn't thought too much about lyrics in a song, but I suppose it adds another layer of depth, and, while the audible melody of the song still has that immediate pleasure as discussed above, I think the words act as something that brings the listener in closer. By this I mean: lyrics beg for the listener to use both immediate and complex pleasures, and, in turn, heightening the viewers experience with the music.
ReplyDeleteI have to say that I disagree with Marion's post. I do not believe that literature can evoke pure emotions like music can. Music has the ability to give meaning through lyrics and ALSO through its melody. No matter how you read literature, the effect is one level of emotion.
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