Invited Talk: Wordsworth’s Song of Harmony

Abstract

This talk derives from my new book, Musical Wordsworth: Romantic Soundscape and Harmony. In this talk, I define the idea of harmony inherent in Wordsworth’s theory of the imagination and his representation of the poetic mind by connecting the unifying and ordering capacity of his poetry with the fundamental qualities of music. Musical metaphors and figurations not only contour the development of a Romantic sense of self-consciousness in Wordsworth’s imagination, but are also self- consciously adopted by his poetry to reflect its own creative process, as well as its status as a product of the imagination. By examining the mind’s ability to translate the aesthetic and animated breath of nature into harmony, I examine the source of Wordsworth’s poetic creation that is central to his concept of wise passiveness and organic sensibility.