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Lyric Cousins: Poetry and Musical Form

(Edinburgh University Press, 2016)

Leading poet, critic and former musician explores the ‘deep forms’ common to both poetry and music

Today, poetry and art music occupy similar cultural positions: each has a tendency to be regarded as problematic, ‘difficult’ and therefore ‘elitist’. Despite this, the audiences and numbers of participants for each are substantial: yet they tend not to overlap. This is odd, because the forms share early history in song and saga, and have some striking similarities, often summed up in the word ’lyric’.

Introduction: A Little Conversation

  1. About Time
  2. Abstract Form
  3. Drawing the Line
  4. Chromaticism
  5. Density
  6. The Meaning of ‘Meaning’
  7. Song
  8. And Story Came Too: from Epic to Opera
  9. Closer Still: the Total Artwork
  10. The Consolations of Tradition
  11. Radical Measures
  12. Performance: the Role of the Audience.

 

‘engaging, beguiling, multifaceted work…’
Adam Hansen, Northumbria University, English: Journal of the English Association Volume 66 Issue 254

‘This book confirms 2 things; Fiona’s status as an expert on musicality and poetry and her ability to break up any subject, making it accessible. I would heartily recommend this book as essential reading to anyone, even remotely interested in poetry.’
Katherine Lockton, Southbank Poetry

‘In her latest work, Fiona Sampson’s verse is alive to musicality.’
Josephine Balmer, The New Statesman, February 2017

‘Described by its author as a “thought experiment”, it is evident within a few pages that this book is so much more. Drawing on her rare combination of insights as a poet, critic and musician, as well as her background in health-care, Fiona Sampson has produced a remarkable new work of aesthetics. As creatively inventive as it is critically astute, the connections and insights of this book will be essential reading for anyone concerned with poetry or music, or more broadly with the place and reception of the arts in society.’
Michael Symmons Roberts, Manchester Metropolitan University

‘In this ambitious and groundbreaking book, Fiona Sampson interrogates the nebulous relationship between poetry and music. Drawing on her professional experience in both disciplines, she succeeds in demystifying and unpicking their many analogous concepts. Her analysis of various song-types reveals insights that are original and compelling.’
Stephen Goss, Chair of Composition and Director of Research, Department of Music and Media, University of Surrey