The Turn of Rhythm: How Victorian Poetry Shaped a New Concept

The word "rhythm" was not commonly used until the nineteenth century, and it had no cultural associations. This book explores how poetry was crucial to the development of anglophone culture's rhythm, focusing on how emerging discursive fields such as speech therapy, idealist philosophy, anthropology, and the thermal sciences perceived a need to conceptualize rhythm.

Format: Hardback
Length: 264 pages
Publication date: 31 October 2023
Publisher: University of Virginia Press

The word "rhythm" was not commonly used until the late 18th century. It also lacked any cultural significance. This book explores the intricate and often overlooked path by which anglophone culture acquired rhythm, with a particular focus on the pivotal role played by poetry in that narrative.

The Turn of Rhythm provides the first comprehensive examination of this uniquely 19th-century phenomenon. Ewan Jones delves into how various emerging discursive fields, including speech therapy, idealist philosophy, anthropology, and the thermal sciences, perceived a growing need to conceptualize rhythm. He demonstrates how poetry played a central role in this development, as it was able to activate states and processes that more discursive or propositional thinking could not.

Jones draws on the works of renowned poets such as Robert Browning, George Eliot, Alice Meynell, and A. C. Swinburne, as well as on the philosophy, science, and anthropology of the time. By tracing the history of the concept of rhythm, Jones aims to empower it to perform new work in the ongoing education of our bodies and minds.

Dimension: 229 x 152 x 32 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780813950303