JOURNAL ARTICLE

Towards the Condition of Birdsong.

  • Published In: ELH, 2024, v. 91, n. 3. P. 727 1 of 3

  • Database: Academic Search Ultimate 2 of 3

  • Authored By: Mueller, Julia Laurel 3 of 3

Abstract

Walter Pater's much-studied, suggestive statement, "All art constantly aspires towards the condition of music," is rooted in "Anders-streben" or "other-striving." In passing, contemporary poet John Bevis ventures a mischievous mishearing of Pater's dictum: What could it mean to aspire towards the condition of birdsong—other-striving of another order? In a heterodox history of ideas from Charles Darwin through Charles Hartshorne, birdsong reintegrates music and language. Listening to birdsong, Anglophone poets have heard echoes of an analogous human capacity, all but lost. In birdsong poems by John Clare, Robert Frost, Edward Thomas, and Elizabeth Bishop, a poetics of radical other-striving emerges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additional Information

  • Source:ELH. 2024/09, Vol. 91, Issue 3, p727
  • Document Type:Article
  • Subject Area:Literature and Writing
  • Publication Date:2024
  • ISSN:0013-8304
  • DOI:10.1353/elh.2024.a936611
  • Accession Number:179576506
  • Copyright Statement:Copyright of ELH is the property of Johns Hopkins University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Looking to go deeper into this topic? Look for more articles on EBSCOhost.