Define musicality
The basics: the same way we make the m sound with our mouths, we make both b and p, and further, the v and f sounds. The sounds d, t, and th similarly are related to the n shape of our mouths. Read Burke’s original essay to learn more about the concept of phonetic cognates, but essentially, the argument for concealed alliteration is that the repetition of phonetically related consonants is a subtle and effective way to build musicality.
We’ve made it a rule to never miss the chance to talk about Sylvia Plath’s poetry. Here, we’re going to bring his analytical discoveries to light not through Coleridge, but rather Sylvia Plath & her poem “Morning Song,” a beautiful work about the birth of her child. Within his essay, Burke-like the surgeon who has forgotten more about anatomy than any of us will ever learn-dissects some lines of Coleridge in order to answer a riddle we’ve all faced in our readings: “There were many passages that seemed to have a marked consistency of texture,” he begins, “yet this effect was not got by some obvious identity of sound, as in alliteration.” Part of that great body of work is a small essay, originally published in a 1940 issue of Poetry under the title “On Musicality in Verse.” Kenneth Burke, one of the founders of transformative New Criticism movement, wrote poetry, literary theory and criticism until his death in 1993. However, some techniques are more obscure in analysis, though nearly as prevalent in practice. These show up in every poet’s glossary, for good reason. Some techniques of tonal musicality you likely already know from school: alliteration, assonance, rhyme, etc. We’re going to explore here the tonal sounds poets use to build musicality. Rhythm (or meter) is fascinating and worth your research, but not our concern today. To consider the musicality of a poem in English is to consider two essential ingredients: the tonal sounds of the vowels and consonants, and the rhythm of stressed and unstressed syllables. Today, we’re going to dig deeper into how musicality is built according the classic critic Kenneth Burke-explore the gritty details of concealed alliteration, acrostic scrambling, diminution and augmentation. The relationship between music and poetry is romance-so much so that the “musicality” of poetry endeavors as much conversation and analysis as the intricate movements of today’s best composers.