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Comparison of wolfgang amadrus mozart work and ludwig van beethovens work
Music and literature essay
Music and literature essay
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Ludwig van Beethoven is one of the most well-known classical composers of all time. It is a little known fact that he composed the majority of his most famous works while completely deaf. To this day, there are many musicians who are known for their ability to produce music without the ability to hear. In her poem Tacet, Hope Cook compares the works of poets to those of composers. The author goes to great efforts to compare written works to song; causes the reader to consider how music may be experienced by those without auditory sense. Cook uses clever diction, metaphor, and contrast to compare poetry to music, and show how it can be enjoyed by all people.
Tacet (pronounced tay-set) is Latin for “it is silent”. It is used to show that an instrument
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or a voice does not sound, and in musical scores it indicates a long stretch of time in which there is no sound. The title Tacet is a part of what defines this poem. It is ironic how the whole poem talks of music, and yet the entire thing is silent – a tacet. This helps establish the theme that poetry is a music that doesn’t need to be heard. Regardless of whether the reader can define the word Tacet, the author is still able to establish a clear theme by the end of the poem. She writes this in lines 17 through 19: “...a silent symphony more generous and / compassionate to the audience / than music itself”(Cook 17-19). The word “audience” has a double meaning in this expression; it refers both to the literal readers of the poem and the figurative “audience” to the “song” which is the written work. It is previously stated that the “silent symphony” shows kindness to the audience, though implicitly stated this is the theme of Tacet. Poetry is like music, yet kinder to the “listeners” because nearly anyone can enjoy it. Simply put, Cook wishes to convey the idea that poetry is the music of the deaf. The purpose of the poem Tacet is to compare poetry to music.
Cook uses an array of musical terms in order to establish this connection, like “notes of ink”, “concert of phrases” and “written key signature”. The contrast between the ideas of writing and music is what creates the overall metaphor. The juxtaposition of two very different senses, sight and hearing, are what make the metaphor effective. This is something new to the reader, and causes he or she to consider what it might be like to actually visualize music. This is different, however, from a physical score or printed sheet music. Cook states that “notes of ink resonate through the / lines and curves of script”(Cook 4-5) as though the sound itself can be captured onto paper. The parallelism and cataloguing of musical and literary terms help the reader imagine how deaf people may experience music. This is evident in the listing in the second stanza: “…sharps, flats, and naturals become / nouns, verbs, and adjectives…”(Cook 14-15). Of course, it isn’t very easy to translate the sensation of listening to music onto paper, however in this case poetry is supposed to take the place of music, and should provide a similar sensation to the reader. Writing is something that can easily be shared across all mediums – whether it is read aloud or silently, poetry is something that can be enjoyed
universally. Hope Cook’s Tacet holds a very interesting message. Throughout the poem she uses a variety of music and literary terminology to compare poetry to music. Excessive listing and implicit metaphors cause the reader to consider being able to visualize music itself, almost as if sound could be captured on paper, in a way that differs from scores and printed sheet music. Cooks motivation behind Tacet is to help readers realize this, and to raise awareness of disability and how those incapable of certain things can be allowed the pleasures that abled people have. It is widely known that Cook is physically disabled herself, and works as an advocate of the community in order to raise awareness and understanding of those who are disabled. By using clever diction, metaphor, and contrast, Cook is able to compare poetry to music and show how all people can be entertained by it.
He uses personifications specifically in this poem to write about what is going on and to describe things. “It's a hard life where the sun looks”(19)...”And its black strip of highway, big eyed/with rabbits that won’t get across ”(2)...”A pot bangs and water runs in the kitchen” (13) None of these are really human body parts on things such as the sun, a pot, or a highway, but they help describe what something does or what something looks like. In the first instance, the sun cannot actually look at something, but it could mean that the sun is visible to the humans, and if humans are out for a long time in the sun, they can get hot and exhausted. For the second line, the big-eyed highway could mean that the highway has many cars with bright headlights that are dangerous for the rabbits, the immigrants, to get across. For the third and final line, pots are not able to bang things on their own, and it could have possibly been a human who made the pot bang, preparing the meal of beans and brown soup that they survive on. There is also a simile in this poem, “Papa's field that wavered like a mirage” (24). This simile could suggest that the wind is moving the grass or crops on his father’s field and looked like an optical illusion. According to Gale Virtual Reference Library, the literary device, “tone” is used to convey the significant change of the author’s feeling in the poem. In the beginning lines, the tone is happy. The poem talks about nostalgia of when he was little, “They leap barefoot to the store. Sweetness on their tongues, red stain of laughter (5-6). (GVRL) These lines illustrate the nostalgia and happy times of Gary Soto’s life when he was probably a child. However, after line 11, the tone becomes more of a negative one. Soto later talks about Farm Laborers and how the job was not a great one. After line 19, a brighter
Collins uses metaphors to teach the audience that with patience, poetry can be understanded easily. For instance, he tells the audience to “walk inside the poem’s
Sound Devices help convey the poet’s message by appealing to the reader’s ears and dr...
Figurative Language in used throughout poems so the reader can develop a further understanding of the text. In “The Journey” the author uses rhythm and metaphors throughout the poem. “...as you left their voices behind, the stars began to burn through the sheets of the clouds..”(25-27). The author compares the star burning to finding your voice. Rhythm also develops the theme of the poem because throughout the story rhythm is presented as happy showing growing up and changing for the better is necessary and cheerful. In “The Laughing Heart” the author uses imagery and metaphors to develop the theme throughout the book. “There is a light somewhere. It may not be much light but it beats the darkness”(5-7). Always find the good out of everything, even it
Poetry is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities; it is solely used to evoke emotive feelings in the reader in which to convey a message or story. This form of literature has a long history dating back thousands of years and is considered a literacy art form as it uses forms and conventions to evoke differentiating interpretations of words, though the use of poetic devices. Devices such as assonance, figurative language, alliteration, onomatopoeia and rhythm are sometimes used to achieve a musical and memorable aspect to the poem. Poems are usually written based on the past experiences of the poet and are greatly influenced by the writer’s morals values and beliefs. Poetry regularly demonstrates and emphasises on the
Just as the surroundings would seem different through color slides, he asks the readers to see the world from diverse viewpoints while reading and writing poems. Moreover, by listening to the poem’s hive, dropping a mouse, and walking inside its room, Collins encourages readers to discover the concealed depth of poetry. He comments that the readers should enjoy the poem in a way they would like to water ski.... ... middle of paper ... ...
Imagery consists of descriptive language that can function as a way for the reader to better imagine which draws on the five senses, namely the details of taste, touch, sight, smell, and sound. As the author describes the feelings and emotions about letting go of their son, she uses imagery to describe the way they are feeling and their actions. For example, “Where two weeks ago, / holding a hand, he’d dawdle, dreamy, slow,” (lines 13-14). The example of imagery is the sense of touch when describing her son’s walk to school while holding his hand when he was not alone. This adds the meaning of the poem because he is comfortable walking with his parents but becomes more nervous and anxious when not comforted by them. The imagery adds to the effect of its
In “A Rainy Morning”, the imagery appeals to the senses of sight, touch, and sound. Some of the imagery in this poem that appeals to the sense of sight would be: “a women in a wheel chair”, “black nylon poncho”, and “long white fingers”. Also, some imagery that appeals to touch and sound would be: “strike just as the chord fades”, “her wet face beautiful in its concentration”, and “the wind turns the pages of rain”. Without the use of imagery in “A Rainy Morning” we would not be able to compare the woman and the pianist. Imagery helps us to see how these two are able to be compared to each other even though they are two different type of people, they are still
In Schubert's songs the literary and musical elements are perfectly balanced, composed on the same intellectual and emotional level. Although Schubert composed strophic songs throughout his career, he did not follow set patterns but exploited bold and free forms when the text demanded it. Except for his early training as a child, Schubert, the composer, was largely untrained and self-taught. His gift of being able to create melodies that contained both easy naturalness and sophisticated twists at the same time was unprecedented for his time.
“Player Piano,” by John Updike is an example of light verse poetry focusing specifically upon the thoughts of a player piano. Updike effectively allows the reader to explore 'player piano's thoughts through personification, meter, rhyme, and diction. The poem commences with assonance which is the lack of vowel sounds in order to create rhyming phrases or sentences. The three-stanza poem, mostly in dactylic tetrameter, describes the player piano in creative diction, allowing the reader to experience the ‘mind’ of this mechanical device. The speaker of the poem is the player piano itself, tracing the steps of a player piano while playing tunes already recorded on its paper rolls. Equally cheerful and entertaining the poem gives the reader a fascinating perspective into the humanistic qualities of this machine. Although the player piano is performing a normally human type task without the assistance of a human, the playing of piano composition is usually composed and played by a physical human. Therefore, the machine’s perception of its tasks are unique in comparison to an actual human musician.
He uses powerful imagery and onomatopoeia to achieve the desired effects that make the poem more realistic. All this combined together produces effective thought provoking ideas and with each read, I gradually get an improved understanding and appreciation of the poem.
Immediately upon launching Campbell’s electronic poem, a metallic, incessant noise assaults the ears (Campbell). To describe it as “background music” is sanctimonious to the idea of music, as the word, “droning” better suits the auditory component of the poem. As a result, however, the audio creates a cold, alien, and electronic tone that is carried through out the rest of the poem (Campbell).
Keats asserts that while music is sweet, those which go unheard are sweeter, and thus implores the piper to “pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone” (14). Because the piper o...
In addition, “ sound techniques like onomatopoeia to create auditory imagery, they can also enlist visual techniques”(entertainment.howstuffworks.com). When E.E. Cummings uses these techniques, they deepen the meaning of his poems and make his poems
The words become a symbol of a slow moving river and as the reader travels along the river, they are also traveling through each stanza. This creates a scene where the viewer can turn words into symbols while in reality they are just reading text. Coleridge is also able to illustrate a suspension of the mind through imagery; done so by producing images that are unfixed to the reader.... ... middle of paper ...