What makes a language musical? What elements constitutive of linguistic systems are also constitutive of musical ones? And how do these elements figure in poetry? Through close readings of texts across disciplines, this course will consider concepts such as tone, timbre, meter and consonance in an effort to discern the affinities and distinctions between music, language and poetry. Three short response papers or extended final paper.

Readings (tentative):

Boethius, Music (excerpts)

Helmholtz, Sensations of Tone (excerpts)

Stevens, "The Idea of Order at Key West"

Heidegger, Poetry, Language, Thought

Jakobson, "Linguistics and Poetics"

Stein, "Poetry and Grammar"

Milner, L'amour de la langue

Bishop, "One Art"

Chomsky, Language and the Mind

Schönberg, Theory of Harmony

Kiparsky, "The role of linguistics in a theory of poetry"

Saariaho, "Timbre and Harmony"