The Musicality Of Spring And All

Spring and All is a collection of Williams’prose and poetry. It consists of12prose sections and27poems. Williams not only makes innovation in its poetic forms, but also plants music in it. This innovation enhances the expressiveness of poetry and it makes Williams’poems to be a peculiar school of modern American poetry. Applying the methodology of musicological criticism in literature, this study makes a comprehensive and systematic research on the musical expression and the artistic characteristics of Spring and All. On the basis of close reading, it analyzes the musical fugue, variation and sonata Williams applies S to release the power of language and imagination.Beside introduction and conclusion, this thesis consists of three chapters. Chapter one makes analysis on the fugal presentation of Williams’ localism from the perspective of fugal outline, fugal types and fugal themes. Chapter two studies the expressive forms of Williams’poetic ideas. It probes into the uniqueness and creativity of Williams’poetry from three aspects as variations on objects, variations on language and variations on rhythm. Chapter three explores the sonata synthesis of the contradictions as pastoral versus urbanity, tradition versus innovation, and Cubism images versus musical measures. It studies the enormous tension and aesthetic value of this sonata synthesis revealed in Spring and All. It is argued in this thesis that Williams applies the musical art forms and techniques to make reform and innovation on modern American poetry. In Spring and All, he uses fugal outline to present his position of localism. He applies variations to express his unique poetic ideas. He synthesizes his inner conflicts and contradictions by way of sonata. Spring and All is not only the musical presentation of Williams’localism, poetic ideas and multi-culture, but also the strongest and the most beautiful musical sound delivered in the history of modern American poetry.