In the vein of David's skepticism: who was it -- old age, you know --
who said that Keats's "murmur of innumerable bees" worked just as
well with the "murder of innumerable beeves"?
Roger Kuin
>At 02:31 PM 3/3/2004 -0500, Carol Kaske wrote:
>>>>>
>In view of some current skepticism about onomatopoeia etc., I'm delighted
>to see that Frye believed in "imitative harmony . . . the sound being an
>echo of the sense," which is a neglected dimension of Spenser's poetry.
><<<<
>
>I am, in general, one of the skeptics. So, I might add, was Dr. Johnson.
>But that is irrelevant. They -- meaning critics in the Renaissance --
>believed in "imitative harmony," AND THERE'S AN END ON IT! (As the Great
>Cham would say.) Virgil, in particular, was famous in this period for the
>number and variety of his verbal sound effects. See María José Vega Ramos,
>El secreto artificio: Qualitas sonorum, maronolatría y tradición pontaniana
>en la poética del Renacimiento (Madrid, 1992).
>
>Did Virgil intend to produce the sound effects that the critics discovered?
>In some cases, there is no question, because the effects are so obvious
>(e.g., "taratantara," which is the sound that a trumpet makes in Virgil's
>predecessor Ennius). With more subtle effects -- and Virgil's effects,
>whatever they are, are more subtle -- it is hard to judge. We hear what we
>expect to hear. "Dover Beach" is connected with the seaside, and so of
>course the rhythm of the poem reminds us of the ebb and flow of the tides.
>But is that really what the poem sounds like? Is it the sound of the words
>that puts us in mind of the sea, or is it the meaning of the words?
>
>Frankly, I can't tell. With Spenser, though, I think we're on firmer
>ground. If you believe that Homer is writing allegory, and you want to
>imitate Homer, then you WILL write allegory. That's probably what Virgil
>did. It's the same with imitative harmony. If you think that Virgil used
>words to imitate sound, and you are trying to imitate Virgil, you will,
>probably, use words to imitate sound. And if you have any talent, it will
>probably work, too.
>
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------
>David Wilson-Okamura http://virgil.org [log in to unmask]
>East Carolina University Virgil reception, discussion, documents, &c
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------
|