The Meaning of Sound Patterns in Poetry

An Interaction Theory

Bibliographic Data

ID4375669
AuthorsBenjamin Hrushovski (corresponding author)
Year1980
Volume2
Issue1a
Pages39
Publication date1980-01-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePoetics Today (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0333-5372 • E-ISSN: 1527-5507
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/1772351
OpenAlexW2326260646
LanguageEN
Citations received7

1. It is common practice in the interpretation and teaching of poetry that the interpreter mobilizes the sound effects of the poetic text to reinforce his argument on the poem's meaning. The insight formulated by I. A. Richards that poems are written with the full body of words finds its obvious expression in this domain. Such observations are made not merely by critics interested in the form of the poem, but even more so by practical critics preoccupied with the poem's or the poet's message, who feel, perhaps, uneasy about the dense and complex network of sound patterning in verse and try to incorporate it, sometimes sporadically and casually, often ingeniously, in their total interpretation. In the other camp one finds prominent critics and theoreticians who deny altogether any inherence of specific meanings in specific sounds.' The problem of the relations (arbitrary or natural) between sounds and the meanings or the reality which language may represent is as old as Plato's Cratylos, and the literature in the field is enormous. Besides literary critics and theoreticians, the arguments were shared by philosophers, psychologists, linguists, and poets of various persuasions. Indeed, do sounds have meaning in poetry? And if so, how? As many basic issues of aesthetics, this question cannot be answered in an either-or manner. It

Acoustics · Art · Epistemology · Linguistics · Literature · Physics · Poetry · Multisensory perception and integration · Music Technology and Sound Studies · Philosophy

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