The relation of music and poetry as reflected in the works of Tieck, Wackenroder and Brentano

Abstract

A consideration of this relation involved an analysis of eighteenth and early nineteenth century conceptions of the general function of art, in so far as these determined the comparative evaluation of a) music and poetry, b) the two aspects of poetry: sound, which links it with music, and logical content, which distinguishes it from music. Tieck, Wackenroder and Brentano present the Romantic conception that the main functions of art are to link man and God in a sacred rite, and to link man and man by communication of emotion. An analysis of their theoretical utterances showed that, whereas Tieck and Brentano considered music and poetry almost equally potent as a means of fulfilling these functions, Wackenroder held that music surpasses poetry in both the religious and emotional spheres. It was possible to trace this difference of view to the fact that Tieck and Brentano were primarily impressed by the musical aspect of words, their transitory nature, and their specifically musical use in poetry, whereas Wackenroder stressed their non-musical, i.e. intellectual aspect. A consideration of these views led to a careful examination of the creative works of all three authors, with a view to discovering whether there was evidence in their own literary practice of the influence of their theoretical assumptions. This scrutiny of content, structure and composition of their works, and of their use of the poetic medium, does in fact reveal an infiltration of musical methods into poetry, and also a variation in the use of these methods by the three writers. The analysis concentrates on the formal value of words and rhythms, and the thematic structure of individual works. The significance of this study becomes more fully apparent in view of the indissoluble union of music and poetry which fulfilled itself during the nineteenth century in the composite art form.