Chapter 1: On modernism and musical aesthetics.

I. Modernism and experimentation: In quest for an aesthetic ideal.

1. Towards the search for new forms of expression;

2. Musicalaesthetics in the literary text.

II. The analogy between music and the literary text.

1. Music as image;
2. Musical forms in literary works;
3. Musical harmony in literature.

III. Instrumental music and connotative meaning: A 19th century debate.

1. Absolute music;
2. Wagner and program music;
3. Deryck Cooke and the Wagnerian Leitmotif : Music as a suggestive
Language Commented [WU1]: Thus, music is neither a precise
knowledge with pre determined signifiers and signifieds , nor is it
meaningless, or devoided of any connotative meaning.

Chapter 2: Music againstthe Romantics.

I. Music and Romantic poetry.

1. The adoration of Nature: Sounds of Nature as musical harmony;

2. The celebration of Imagination: Music as an escape from reality;
3. Romantic poetry and Musical Forms Commented [WU2]: Do you mean liberation of or liberation
from ? Please clarify.

II. Eliot’s response to the Romantics: Against Romantic musical aesthetics. In this part I want to analyze how Romantic poets used musical
forms in their poems.
Later, It will help me to compare and contrast it with Eliot’s and
1. Sounds of nature and infertility; Stevens’ use of the same forms in their poems.

.
2. Against Romantic imagination: Music as a representation of reality;
3. The fallacy of Romantic form.

III. Wallace Stevens: Romantic musical aesthetics in a modern context.

1. From cacophony to harmony: Sounds of nature and imagination;

2. Music and imagination as representations of reality;
3. Wallace Stevens’ use of Romantic themes and variations.
Chapter 3: Music and Religion.

I. Music in Dante’s Divine Comedy.

1. Cacophony in the Inferno;

2. Music and redemption in the Purgatorio;
3. Celestial music in the Paradisio.

II. Eliot and the music of redemption.

1. Hell on Earth: The cacophony of tortured voices in “The Waste Land”.

1.1.Voices of prophets;
1.2. Female voices.
2. The music of spheres and redemption in Four Quartets.
2.1 The still point of the universe as a representation of God;
2.2.The sonata as a point of intersection.

III. Stevens and the music of secular experience.

1. From metaphysical hell to earthly pain: Suffering as a part of reality;

2. Music as a substitute for religion
2.1 The immortalization of beauty: the figure of Susana in “Peter
Quince at the Clavier”;
2.2The sound of Nature: replacing religion in “Sunday Morning”.

Chapter 4: Music and literary tradition.

I. Literary Modernism, music, and tradition.

1. Paleo-Modernism.
1.1. Paleo-Modernism and the revival of the past;
1.2. Wagner and the “total work of art”.
2. Neo-Modernism.
2.1. Against tradition;
2.2. Jazz music and contemporary America.
II. Eliot and the music of Paleo-Modernism.
1.Eliot’s historical sense and use of Wagner’s “total work of art”.
 1.1. Synthesis of the art: Cubist music and the literary tradition;
1.2. The use of myths in “The Waste Land”.
2. Eliot and jazz music.
2.1. Jazz in Eliot’s early poetry;
2.2. Tradition over contemporariness.
III. Stevens and the music of Neo-Modernism.
1. Against tradition.
1.1. Music and the ephebe in “Notes toward a supreme fiction”;
1.2. Skepticism toward the past in “The Comedian as the Letter C”.
2.Jazz music in Stevens’ poetry.
2.1. The art of improvisation;
2.2. Jazz musical instruments and contemporariness.

Chapter 1:

The objective of this chapter is to understand why Modernist authors were interested in the

use of other arts in their literary texts, as well as to explain how musical aesthetics is

applicable in the construction of a literary text. It interprets and explains the modernist interest

in the analogy between the arts as a quest for finding a new aesthetics that will cope with a

new situation that is the one of modernism. Furthermore, as our thesis mainly focuses on the

analogy between musical aesthetics and poetry, this chapter reviews and introduces the

different musical elements that are equivalent to the construction of a literary text. Our aim is

to explain how musical concepts such as harmony, polyphony form and structure can be used

in the creation of a literary text. These concepts will be further used in this work in order to

sustain our interpretation. Last but not least, since this thesis focuses not only on the form, but

also on the use of musical aesthetics to convey meaning in the text, this chapter discusses the

possibility of instrumental music,per se, to suggest concrete ideas to the audience. For this

purpose, this chapter makes references to the writings of Wagner and Liszt, in order to

illustrate the musicologists’ debate that took place in the 19th century, questioning the ability

of instrumental music to convey ideas and themes. Further evidences will be made by
referring to Coke’s systematic study, which tries to give an objective interpretation to

Wagner’s orchestralisation, aiming to prove the thematic connection that exists between

music and the plot of the opera per se.

Chapter 2:

The second chapter of this thesis explores Eliot and Stevens’ use of music as a response to the

Romantics. One of the main traits of Modernist poetry is its reaction against the Romantic

theory of poetry. This chapter first explores how romantic poets such as Keats and

Wordsworth used music to convey romantic ideas such as the adoration of nature andthe use

of imagination to escape reality. Then, we resort to the romantic principles related to music as

a touchstone,in order to understand Eliot and Steven’s musical literary reactions against the

Romantics. Indeed, music in Eliot’s “The Waste Land” is often used to express the romantic

disillusionment and the modern desolation in a 20th century modernist context. Stevens’

reaction against the romantics differs from that of T.S Eliot. In “The Idea of order in Key

West”,while Stevens depicts nature as a source of chaos, he actually foregrounds the poet’s

role in transforming this chaotic reality into harmony. His poem “The Man with the blue

guitar” expresses his idea of supreme fiction,i.e.,of fiction and imagination as representations

of reality. Thus, while Eliot’s references to songs and music stand for a direct depiction of the

modern situation, Stevens uses music as a medium to mix reality and fiction, so as to convey

his ideal notion of supreme fiction. This chapter also explores Eliot and Stevens’s use of

romantic musical forms as a response to romantic poetry.

Chapter 3:

The third chapter explores the relation between music and religion in Eliot and Stevens’

poetry. While Eliot’s belief in religious redemption can be noticed from his borrowing of the

musical notions found in Dante’s The Divine Comedy, Stevens’ musical imagery tends to
express the absence of God and secularity. Through the analysis of musical forms and

imagery, this chapter shows how Eliot seeks refuge in Christian redemption as a solution to

the modern man. His use of a cacophony of voices in “The Waste Land” and of celestial

music in “Four Quartets” illustrate Eliot’s borrowing from Dante’s The Divine Comedy and

presents his poetry as a quest for religious redemption. Wallace Stevens’ rejection of religion

does not put him on a nihilistic ground, though. Instead, through the use of musical images,

the reader understands that Stevens is able to find a substitute for religion in art, nature and

imagination. While his poem “Esthétique du Mal” contradicts Eliot’s spiritual suffering on

earth and accepts pain as part of reality, other poems, such as “Peter Quince at the Clavier”

and “Sunday Morning”, suggest that beauty and nature may act as substitutes for religion.

Chapter 4:

The fourth chapter explores Eliot and Stevens’ relation with literary tradition and their

contemporary reaction to it. While Stevens’ use of jazz music and American musical

instruments shows his rejection of classical European tradition and foregrounding of an

American identity, Eliot’s reference to Wagner, as well as his use of Wagnerian leitmotifs and

concept of “total work of art”,s how his concernwith literary tradition and reverence for “the

mind of Europe”. Commented [U3]: Please add expected conclusion. And also
insert updated bibliography.

Expected Conclusion:

While both Eliot and Stevens used musical aesthetics in their poetry, its connotation differs

for both poets. While music aesthetic is used in Eliot’s poetry to reject romantic aesthetics and

to valorize the role of the literary tradition and religion in the redemption of the modern man,

the same musical aesthetics and techniques are used in Stevens’ poem to express antithetical

ideas. Indeed,Stevens rejection of the past and his search for a fresh American aesthetics
detached from Europe made his use of Musical metaphors, musical forms, and harmony

express the following ideas : reformulation of Romantic aesthetics, replacing religion with art

and music, rejection of the past and the search for the new. Based on such analysis, we

understand that both Eliot’s and Stevens’ use of musical aesthetics goes beyond formal

consideration and suggest different themes conveyed in the analyzed texts. Because Eliot and

Stevens treat the problem of modernity differently, the connotation of musical aesthetics in

their poems shows their explicit thematic antagonism. Thus, musical aesthetics, among other

elements, is a revealing device when it comes to the aesthetics of both poets.

Updated Bibliography Commented [WU4]: Additional works are in red color