I was reading this poem for my Modern Poetry class by Wallace Stevens and it really resonated with what we started to touch on in class on Wednesday. This question of what music actually is. Do simple sounds create a sort of music? I think that this poem argues that these sounds indeed are music. When the speaker mentions "Just as my fingers on these keys/ Make music, so the self-same sounds/ On my spirit make a music, too. / Music is feeling, then, not sound;", it is very clear that the speaker believes music is simply a sound that moves you. The poem is kind of long but check it out! What do you think?
Peter Quince at the Clavier
Just as my fingers on these keys
Make music, so the self-same sounds
On my spirit make a music, too.
Music is feeling, then, not sound;
And thus it is that what I feel,
Here in this room, desiring you,
Thinking of your blue-shadowed silk,
Is music. It is like the strain
Waked in the elders by Susanna;
Of a green evening, clear and warm,
She bathed in her still garden, while
The red-eyed elders, watching, felt
The basses of their beings throb
In witching chords, and their thin blood
Pulse pizzicati of Hosanna.
II
In the green water, clear and warm,
Susanna lay.
She searched
The touch of springs,
And found
Concealed imaginings.
She sighed,
For so much melody.
Upon the bank, she stood
In the cool
Of spent emotions.
She felt, among the leaves,
The dew
Of old devotions.
She walked upon the grass,
Still quavering.
The winds were like her maids,
On timid feet,
Fetching her woven scarves,
Yet wavering.
A breath upon her hand
Muted the night.
She turned —
A cymbal crashed,
Amid roaring horns.
III
Soon, with a noise like tambourines,
Came her attendant Byzantines.
They wondered why Susanna cried
Against the elders by her side;
And as they whispered, the refrain
Was like a willow swept by rain.
Anon, their lamps' uplifted flame
Revealed Susanna and her shame.
And then, the simpering Byzantines
Fled, with a noise like tambourines.
IV
Beauty is momentary in the mind —
The fitful tracing of a portal;
But in the flesh it is immortal.
The body dies; the body's beauty lives.
So evenings die, in their green going,
A wave, interminably flowing.
So gardens die, their meek breath scenting
The cowl of winter, done repenting.
So maidens die, to the auroral
Celebration of a maiden's choral.
Susanna's music touched the bawdy strings
Of those white elders; but, escaping,
Left only Death's ironic scraping.
Now, in its immortality, it plays
On the clear viol of her memory,
And makes a constant sacrament of praise.
Make music, so the self-same sounds
On my spirit make a music, too.
Music is feeling, then, not sound;
And thus it is that what I feel,
Here in this room, desiring you,
Thinking of your blue-shadowed silk,
Is music. It is like the strain
Waked in the elders by Susanna;
Of a green evening, clear and warm,
She bathed in her still garden, while
The red-eyed elders, watching, felt
The basses of their beings throb
In witching chords, and their thin blood
Pulse pizzicati of Hosanna.
II
In the green water, clear and warm,
Susanna lay.
She searched
The touch of springs,
And found
Concealed imaginings.
She sighed,
For so much melody.
Upon the bank, she stood
In the cool
Of spent emotions.
She felt, among the leaves,
The dew
Of old devotions.
She walked upon the grass,
Still quavering.
The winds were like her maids,
On timid feet,
Fetching her woven scarves,
Yet wavering.
A breath upon her hand
Muted the night.
She turned —
A cymbal crashed,
Amid roaring horns.
III
Soon, with a noise like tambourines,
Came her attendant Byzantines.
They wondered why Susanna cried
Against the elders by her side;
And as they whispered, the refrain
Was like a willow swept by rain.
Anon, their lamps' uplifted flame
Revealed Susanna and her shame.
And then, the simpering Byzantines
Fled, with a noise like tambourines.
IV
Beauty is momentary in the mind —
The fitful tracing of a portal;
But in the flesh it is immortal.
The body dies; the body's beauty lives.
So evenings die, in their green going,
A wave, interminably flowing.
So gardens die, their meek breath scenting
The cowl of winter, done repenting.
So maidens die, to the auroral
Celebration of a maiden's choral.
Susanna's music touched the bawdy strings
Of those white elders; but, escaping,
Left only Death's ironic scraping.
Now, in its immortality, it plays
On the clear viol of her memory,
And makes a constant sacrament of praise.
Wow, that's a very interesting poem, Cassie -- structurally, rhythmically, tonally, etc. -- and it seems appropriate given our discussion about converging the distance between words & song. I love that second section (movement?), in particular, with all its careful interlacing. It also reminds me that I've never read or studied Stevens in any kind of comprehensive way; I should fill in that gap soon.
ReplyDeleteThis poem has a series of striking individual lines/moments, too: e.g., to have "the basses of [our] beings throb / In witching chords"; "She searched / The touch of springs, / And found / concealed imaginings"; "So evenings die, in their green going, / A wave, interminably flowing." Now that I think of it, the combination of those drawn out words (especially "interminably"), the long "o" assonance sounds, the "ing" elongations (going, flowing, scenting, repenting), etc., remind me of the "gentle oozings" and similar elongations at the end of the first two stanzas of "To Autumn." The progression of the poem (and of Time?) is inevitable and delightful here, but there's a counter-pull in the words and sound effects, slowing us down at the same time.
Well, I'm not entirely sure I want to stay committed to the Kundera novel when I teach this course in the future, so I should be taking note of a poem like this (and others) that might eventually be included in the list of readings ...