524 Mr. Henry Walford Davies [June 11, 



Here the emotional and constructional repetitions are completely at 

 one. Another illuminating example of how a poet does or does not meet 

 music half-way is to be found in comparing a stanza from Tennyson 

 with a stanza from Burns. In one the poet seems to have no need of 

 the composer : 



I leave thy praises unexpressed 

 In verse that brings myself relief, 

 And by the measure of my grief 

 I leave thy greatness to be guessed. 



In the other the emotional repetitions are as perfectly conformed to 

 music's structural needs as they could possibly be, and consequently 

 the verse cries out for music : 



I see her in the dewy flowers, 



I see her fresh and fair, 

 I hear her in the tunefu' birds, 



I hear her charm the air. 



Keble has paid this latter stanza the tribute of imitation in sacred 

 verse, and acknowledges his debt in a footnote. 



The third fact is this : 



3. By the nature of things the mere dimensions of poetical and 

 musical expression are bound to diverge. 



If words are to move us not by what they are but by what they call to 

 mind, then their strength is in their own modest dimensions. If music 

 moves us by its own light and shade, its own colour, its own rhythmics 

 and dynamics, it will obviously grow as much vaster than words as a 

 sunset sky is vaster than an artist's neck-tie. As a matter of fact, 

 a speaking voice moves within an octave or so, and wastes no lung- 

 power either in shouting or sustaining syllables. The violin moves 

 through four or live octaves, and an organ through nine ; their 

 beauty is in sostetiido, and it is one of their advantages that they 

 never need break that sostenuto to take a breath. 



Y. — Results of Divergences. 



We have now very briefly considered the four identities of words 

 and music, and their three main divergences : (1) in method or 

 technique of appe.d ; (2) in use of the device of repetition ; (3) in 

 mere physical magnitude. What practical conclusions may writers 

 of, and listeners to song deduce which can be helpful ? It is desir- 

 able before concluding to note a few. 



It clears the listener's judgment to remember that the so-called 

 identities will not change, for they are in nature, and must remain 

 as long as sound is sound and speech and song approach us through 

 our ears. In order to enjoy the words and music of a song as a whole, 

 and to form a consistent judgment upon it, the listener should look 

 for a double joy, but a single issue. The superimposition of an alien 



