Tuesday, March 31, 2009

On Poetry and Music - March 31st

In many ways, music is just the ultimate form of poetic language. It is universal, and easily understood by all. All emotions can be expressed, while the effectiveness lies in the skill of the arrangement. If we are to think of the musical scale as almost everyone knows it, we can easily think of "Do Re Mi". "Do Re Mi" is a neat summation of the link between music and language. Here, we have nonsense syllables that are not exclusive to any one language, yet represent so much by their juxtaposition.
I had the great luck of going to an international drum camp while I was in high school. There, I was able to see a performance by an Indian Tabla master. To Indian drummers, music is learned as a separate language, with its own "grammar". Drum hits and rhythms are assigned syllables, like "ta" and "ki". To illustrate this, the drummer spoke in this language, and then performed it back on the drum. As he spoke, his sentences gained more and more complexity, but it was clear that it was not just gibberish.
While this establishes the clear link between music and language, music and poetry are separated by one simple fact: music is a physical art. Poetry is entirely a mental and emotional process, while music also adds the aspect of performance to the mix. Furthermore, poetry is human invention. While music is natural and primal, poetry is the product of representing music with language.
I think that in Wackenroder's story, the saint's nudity illustrates that the author was aware of this link between the body and music, while also driving down the point that music is part of our natural being. He also calls this character a "saint," I think not only to illustrate the perfection that is associated with music, but also so that we do not mistakenly think that this nude character is a beast.

As for the story itself, I feel that it is a fairy tale for two reasons: there is a major, supernatural transformation at the end, and the story is entirely about an outsider who is superior to the society that doesn't understand him.

1 comment:

  1. I agree with you that music is its own form of language and is a tool for communication. However, I think poetry can be physical, too, and sometimes there is not a clear distinction between poetry and music.

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