Heard poetry. Lyric poetry as an acoustic phenomenon with selected case studies from German speaking lyric poetry

• Applicant: Privatdozentin Dr. Claudia Hillebrandt
• Subject Area: German Literary and Cultural Studies (Modern German Literature)
• Term: from 2015 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 280553607

This project pursues two main goals: first, it methodologically clarifies the status of potential acoustic features of written texts and complements the methods of analysis common in the field of poetry research. Second, it exemplifies this approach by means of three pilot studies. By this means, a method for describing the acoustic aspects of literary texts, and lyric poems in particular, is established, namely those lyric poems that have survived in written form only. This approach is then applied to poems by Johann Klaj, Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock and Ludwig Tieck. Thus, the project can be regarded as a piece of pioneering work within the research field of lyric poetry: by default, interpretations of lyric poems draw heavily on observations regarding the acoustic features of such texts. Or, to be more specific, they usually lay emphasis on their function. Nevertheless, to date there is no approach that allows for determining of all textual features that are relevant in this context. Moreover, literary theory still lacks an approach that enables scholars to theoretically and methodically justify ascriptions of dispositional as well as symbolic or expressive properties to these features. This is not surprising, however, considering that analyses of this kind generally exceed the methodical framework of literary studies: they depend on outcomes of different fields of research that are to be merged for the first time in the context of this project. The main assumption of the project is that ascribing a function to potential acoustic properties of lyric poems is tantamount to construing such a function, but that this does not mean it is done arbitrarily. Rather, these kinds of constructions can be justified within a specific theoretical and methodological framework that is derived from several fields of research. Accordingly, I propose to adopt an interdisciplinary as well as integrative point of view that combines findings from different fields of research besides Metrics and Rhetoric, namely: Analytical Aesthetics (of Music), (Cultural) Sound Studies, Psychoacoustics, and Psychophonetics. In summary, the research done within this project is innovative and relevant to Literary Studies in the area of theory of lyric poetry as well as in the history of the genre of poetry. Its findings may be used to better back up the practice of interpreting poetry as well as to promote the theory of lyric poetry that is thus far nowhere near as well-established as the theory of narrative or of dramatic texts. Additionally, its three historical studies may serve as a starting point for designing a history of lyric poetry with a special focus on acoustic aspects, which, despite its high relevance to the history of the genre, has not yet been written.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants