Poetic Soundings: Aesthetic Correlation in the Work of T.S. Eliot and Igor Stravinsky

Abstract

discusses comparisons between T.S. Eliot and Igor Stravinsky as 'exemplars of Modernism in their respective media'. 'The very persistence of these comparisons raises questions and compels further investigation: is it appropriate to compare these two artists? Just how far can the comparison be pushed- is it true only of the surface appearance of the works, or only in a few select instances? Is it even possible to justifiably align different techniques in different arts—that is, to effectively undertake an interdisciplinary comparison—and can such a comparison ever amount to anything more than a series of metaphors providing alternative ways to understand the effects of different creative techniques? Finally, how is it that these similarities between Stravinsky and Eliot have arisen? Whilst this final question is arguably the most significant, exploring it would require considering innumerable parallel biographical factors and thus lies far beyond the bounds of any single article, closer perhaps to a life's work. Consequently for the purpose of the present article, biographical concerns have been largely sidelined in favour of a more isolated parallel analysis of Stravinsky's and Eliot's work in order to explore how well their status as a pair stands up.'