{"product_id":"musics-spell-isbn-9780307270924","title":"Music's Spell","description":"Music may be the universal language that needs no words—the “language where all language ends,” as Rilke put it—but that has not stopped poets from ancient times to the present from trying to represent it in verse.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHere are Rumi and Shakespeare, Elizabeth Bishop and Billy Collins; the wild pipes of William Blake, the weeping guitars of Federico García Lorca, and the jazz rhythms of Langston Hughes; Wallace Stevens on Mozart and Thom Gunn on Elvis—the range of poets and of their approaches to the subject is as wide and varied as music itself.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe poems are divided into sections on pop and rock, jazz and blues, specific composers and works, various musical instruments, the human voice, the connection between music and love, and music at the close of life. The result is a symphony of poetic voices of all tenors and tones, the perfect gift for all musicians and music lovers.\u003ci\u003eForeword\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE POWER OF MUSIC\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eWilliam Shakespeare\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eThe Tempest\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWilliam Congreve\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eThe Mourning Bride\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRainer Maria Rilke\u003c\/b\u003e To Music\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWalt Whitman\u003c\/b\u003e “That music always round me” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePercy Bysshe Shelley\u003c\/b\u003e Two Fragments:\u003cbr\u003eMusic And Sweet Poetry\u003cbr\u003eTo Music \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJohn Dryden\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eA Song for St Cecilia’s Day \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWilliam Butler Yeats\u003c\/b\u003e A Crazed Girl\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWalter De La Mare\u003c\/b\u003e Music\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAmy Lowell\u003c\/b\u003e Music\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRobert Herrick\u003c\/b\u003e To Music, to Becalm His Fever \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSamuel Taylor Coleridge\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eThe Rime of the Ancient Mariner\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eElizabeth Bishop\u003c\/b\u003e Sonnet \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJohn Milton\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eAt a Solemn Musick \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRobert Herrick\u003c\/b\u003e To Musick \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWalt Whitman\u003c\/b\u003e A Song of Joys \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSamuel Taylor Coleridge\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eDejection: An Ode\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBen Jonson\u003c\/b\u003e “Slow, slow, fresh fount” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCzeslaw Milosz\u003c\/b\u003e In Music\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eGeorge Herbert\u003c\/b\u003e Church-Musick \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eHenry Vaughan\u003c\/b\u003e The Morning Watch\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eElizabeth Barrett Browning\u003c\/b\u003e Perplexed Music \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThomas Nabbes\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eMicrocosmus \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAlexander Pope\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eOde on St Cecilia’s Day\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eHomer\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eThe Odyssey \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eEmily Dickinson\u003c\/b\u003e “The fascinating chill that music leaves”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAlfred, Lord Tennyson\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eThe Lotus-Eaters \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWilliam Wordsworth\u003c\/b\u003e Sonnet: Inside of King’s College Chapel, Cambridge\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRobert Herrick\u003c\/b\u003e Soft Music\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWilliam Blake\u003c\/b\u003e “Piping down the valleys wild” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLord Byron\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eDon Juan \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJalaluddin Rumi\u003c\/b\u003e Where Everything is Music \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWilliam Shakespeare\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eThe Merchant of Venice\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMUSIC AND LOVE\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eLangston Hughes\u003c\/b\u003e Juke Box Love Song \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePercy Bysshe Shelley\u003c\/b\u003e To – \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWilliam Shakespeare\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eTwelfth Night\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThomas Campion\u003c\/b\u003e “Follow your saint, follow with accents sweet”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePaul Laurence Dunbar\u003c\/b\u003e An Old Memory\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTomas Tranströmer\u003c\/b\u003e C Major\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eEugenio Montale\u003c\/b\u003e “Your hand was trying the keyboard”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eConrad Aiken\u003c\/b\u003e Music I Heard \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWilliam Shakespeare\u003c\/b\u003e “Music to hear, why hear’st thou music sadly?” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eDante Gabriel Rossetti\u003c\/b\u003e Song and Music\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThomas Carew\u003c\/b\u003e Celia Singing \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWilliam Shakespeare\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eThe Taming of the Shrew\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eConrad Aiken\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eThe House of Dust: A Symphony\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThomas Hardy\u003c\/b\u003e The Fiddler \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRichard Lovelace\u003c\/b\u003e Gratiana, Dancing and Singing \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePhilip Sidney\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eVerses\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWildred Owen\u003c\/b\u003e Music\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRichard Barnfield\u003c\/b\u003e To His Friend Master R. L., in Praise of Music and Poetry \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAndrew Marvell\u003c\/b\u003e The Fair Singer\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWilliam Shakespeare\u003c\/b\u003e “How oft when thou, my music, music play’st”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLord Byron\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eChilde Harold’s Pilgrimage \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePOP, ROCK\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eDenis Johnson\u003c\/b\u003e Heat\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAllen Ginsberg\u003c\/b\u003e First Party at Ken Kesey’s with Hell’s Angels\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThom Gunn\u003c\/b\u003e Painkillers \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJoyce Carol Oates\u003c\/b\u003e Waiting on Elvis, 1956\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCornelius Eady\u003c\/b\u003e The Supremes \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eDavid Wojahn\u003c\/b\u003e Woody Guthrie Visited By Bob Dylan: Brooklyn State Hospital, New York, 1961\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eZbigniew Herbert\u003c\/b\u003e Mr Cogito and Pop \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRobert Phillips\u003c\/b\u003e The Death of Janis Joplin \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePaul Muldoon\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eSleeve Notes\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eJAZZ, BLUES\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eMarie Ponsot\u003c\/b\u003e Strong, Off Route 209 \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eNtozake Shange\u003c\/b\u003e Mood Indigo\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSterling D. Plump\u003c\/b\u003e Eleven\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eKamau Braithwaite\u003c\/b\u003e Trane \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eGregory Corso\u003c\/b\u003e For Miles \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRita Dove\u003c\/b\u003e Canary\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLangston Hughes\u003c\/b\u003e The Weary Blues \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eYusef Komunyakaa\u003c\/b\u003e Woman, I Got the Blues \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRobert Hayden\u003c\/b\u003e Homage to the Empress of the Blues\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCharles Simic\u003c\/b\u003e Bed Music\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eCOMPOSERS\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eW. H. Auden\u003c\/b\u003e The Composer \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCharles Baudelaire\u003c\/b\u003e Music \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWallace Stevens\u003c\/b\u003e Mozart, 1935\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJaroslav Seifert\u003c\/b\u003e Bach Concerto \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eEmily Fragos\u003c\/b\u003e The Scarlatti Sun \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMary Oliver\u003c\/b\u003e Robert Schumann \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTomas Tranströmer\u003c\/b\u003e Allegro\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAlexander Pope\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eThe Dunciad \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eGerard Manley Hopkins\u003c\/b\u003e Henry Purcell \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAnna Akhmatova\u003c\/b\u003e Music \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTomas Tranströmer\u003c\/b\u003e An Artist in the North \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAdam Zagajewski\u003c\/b\u003e Seventeen\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrank O’Hara\u003c\/b\u003e On Rachmaninoff’s Birthday\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAmy Lowell\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eChopin \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSidney Lanier\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eTo Richard Wagner \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eEmma Lazarus\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eChopin \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrank O’Hara\u003c\/b\u003e Poulenc\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eTHE OPUS\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eBenjamin Ivry\u003c\/b\u003e A Prayer Against Strauss’ “Salomé,” 1900\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eOscar Wilde \u003c\/b\u003eSonnet on Hearing the Dies Irae Sung in the Sistine Chapel\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eColette Inez\u003c\/b\u003e Listening To Dvořák’s Serenade in E \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAdrienne Rich\u003c\/b\u003e The Ninth Symphony of Beethoven Understood at Last as a Sexual Message\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAmy Lowell\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eStravinsky’s Three Pieces “Grotesques,” for String Quartet \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThomas Hardy\u003c\/b\u003e Lines: To a Movement in Mozart’s E-Flat Symphony \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eW. S. Gilbert\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eThe Major-General’s Song\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJan Zwicky\u003c\/b\u003e Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet in B Minor, Op. 115 \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSara Teasdale\u003c\/b\u003e A Minuet of Mozart’s\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJames Merrill\u003c\/b\u003e The Victor Dog \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSidney Lanier\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eThe Symphony \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eEmily Fragos\u003c\/b\u003e Bach Fugue\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eOscar Wilde\u003c\/b\u003e The Harlot’s House \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eINSTRUMENTS\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eWalt Whitman\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eThe Mystic Trumpeter\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eHafiz\u003c\/b\u003e “When the violin” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAdam Zagajewski\u003c\/b\u003e Cello \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eD. H. Lawrence\u003c\/b\u003e Piano \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSean Singer\u003c\/b\u003e The Clarinet \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFederico García Lorca\u003c\/b\u003e The Guitar\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eEdgar Allan Poe\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eThe Bells \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eEmily Brontë\u003c\/b\u003e “Harp of wild and dream like strain”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eHenry Purcell\/?Nahum Tate\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eCome Ye Songs of Art\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSamuel Taylor Coleridge\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eThe Aeolian Harp \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThomas Wyatt\u003c\/b\u003e “Blame not my lute” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAndré Chénier\u003c\/b\u003e The Flute \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRabindranath Tagore\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eFruit-Gathering \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAmy Lowell\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eThe Cremona Violin\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWalt Whitman\u003c\/b\u003e “The tongues of violins!”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAlfred, Lord Tennyson\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eThe Princess \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eGeorg Trakl\u003c\/b\u003e Trumpets \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eZbigniew Herbert\u003c\/b\u003e Violin  \u003cbr\u003eHarp \u003cbr\u003eHarpsichord\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eChristopher Smart\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eJulilate Agno \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWalt Whitman\u003c\/b\u003e Beat! Beat! Drums! \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJohn Milton\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eIl Penseroso \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWalt Whitman\u003c\/b\u003e “I heard you solemn-sweet pipes of the organ”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eW. S. Merwin\u003c\/b\u003e To the Sorrow String \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWilliam Shakespeare\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eHamlet \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eVOICE\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eThomas Campion\u003c\/b\u003e Laura \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eConstantine Cavafy\u003c\/b\u003e Singer \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWislawa Szymborska\u003c\/b\u003e Coloratura\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJames Merrill\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eThe Ring Cycle \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWalt Whitman\u003c\/b\u003e Italian Music in Dakota\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAmy Lowell\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eAn Opera House \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWalt Whitman\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eProud Music of the Storm\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRobert Herrick\u003c\/b\u003e Upon Julia’s Voice \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWilliam Wordsworth\u003c\/b\u003e The Solitary Reaper\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThomas Campion\u003c\/b\u003e “When to her lute Corinna sings”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eVachel Lindsay\u003c\/b\u003e How a Little Girl Sang \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eOwen Feltham\u003c\/b\u003e Upon a Rare Voice\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLord Byron\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eDon Juan \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSeamus Heaney\u003c\/b\u003e The Singer’s House \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSamuel Taylor Coleridge\u003c\/b\u003e On a Volunteer Singer \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLESSONS, PRACTICE\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eLouise Bogan\u003c\/b\u003e Musician\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAdam Zagajewski\u003c\/b\u003e Death of a Pianist\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eDavid Wagoner\u003c\/b\u003e The Singing Lesson \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBilly Collins\u003c\/b\u003e Piano Lessons \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJoshua Sylvester \u003c\/b\u003eVariable\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eDante Gabriel Rossetti\u003c\/b\u003e Ballata \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eW. S. Merwin\u003c\/b\u003e The Notes \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCarole Oles\u003c\/b\u003e To a Daughter at Fourteen Forsaking the Violin \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMUSIC AT THE CLOSE\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eW\u003cb\u003e. B. Yeats\u003c\/b\u003e The Players Ask for a Blessing on the Psalteries and on Themsleves \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWilliam Shakespeare\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eRichard II\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJohn Donne\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eHymne to God My God, in My Sicknesse\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSamuel Johnson\u003c\/b\u003e An Epitaph Upon the Celebrated Claudy Philips, Musician, Who Died Very Poor \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRainer Maria Rilke\u003c\/b\u003e (Music) \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWilliam Shakespeare\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eThe Tempest \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThomas Hardy\u003c\/b\u003e In a Museum \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eChang-Wou-Kien\u003c\/b\u003e The Pavilion of Music \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRainer Maria Rilke\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eThe Sonnets to Orpheus\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJohn Keats\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eOde on a Grecian Urn \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCharles Stuart Calverly\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eChanged\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAlfred, Lord Tennyson \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eIdylls of the King\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJohn Keats\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrom \u003c\/i\u003eTo Autumn \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eOsip Mandelstam\u003c\/b\u003e “Leaves scarcely breathing” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRainer Maria Rilke\u003c\/b\u003e “The sublime is a departure” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eIndex of Authors\u003cbr\u003eAcknowledgments\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eEmily Fragos \u003c\/b\u003eis an award-winning poet and editor of the Everyman’s Library Pocket Poets anthologies \u003ci\u003eThe Great Cat: Poems About Cats \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Dance\u003c\/i\u003e. She lives in New York City.FOREWORD\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHearts swell at the sound of a ravishing voice, a melancholy guitar, an oboe’s floating cry. Jazz riffs lead us through a maze of moods we recognize as our own perhaps for the first time. Shakespeare’s galloping horses stop in their tracks at the hearing of a captivating melody. Rock concerts with their waves and walls of sound release from pent-up bodies the deepest energies. How to explain the transformative, expressive power of music in our lives – this music we create with our own breath and our own hands?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThough music is a language without words – the ‘‘language where all language ends,’’ as Rilke has it – the impulse to explain it in words is an old and abiding one. The ancient Greeks believed that the planets produced ‘‘music of the spheres,’’ profoundly exquisite harmonies, as they revolved in their orbits. Thus, although we cannot hear these celestial sounds, our souls, attuned to harmony from birth, respond to music created on Earth. We are surrounded, inundated even, by music: ‘‘There’s music in all things, if men had ears:\/Their earth is but an echo of the spheres,’’ wrote Lord Byron.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePoets in particular have been drawn to try to translate music’s spell into verbal form, perhaps because theirs is also an art in which the expressive qualities of sound and rhythm and unspoken resonances play a role.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis much is certain: music is all important to the human race. It has the power and the charm to move, disturb, sadden, gladden, bring consolation, celebration, salvation.We remember the stages of our lives by the music we heard, sang, danced to. Children’s songs we pass on from generation to generation as soothing lullabies.We work and play and love and pray to music.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘‘Without music,’’ Frederick Nietzsche said, ‘‘life would be a mistake.’’ It would be a world without harmony, without singing and dancing – and without poetry, that legacy of the first poet-musician, Orpheus, who with his lyre, so goes the myth, first stirred the soul and bestowed upon the struggling world the sweet power of music.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEmily Fragos","brand":"Everyman's Library","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48233411412197,"sku":"NP9780307270924","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780307270924.jpg?v=1767733198","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/musics-spell-isbn-9780307270924","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}