Symphony and Song: The Intersection of Words and Music

Symphony and Song takes its title from Coleridge’s poem Kubla Khan, and explores the relation between words and music from a variety of critical and practical perspectives. The contributors to this volume apply recent theoretical approaches ranging from the Mozart Effect in cognitive psychology, through stylistics and conceptual metaphor, to transtextuality in the analysis of a range of songs, song lyrics, poetry, ekphrastic prose, and instrumental music. Topics explored here include opera and pop music from around the world, Australian Aboriginal oral poetry, political instrumentalization and censorship of song lyrics, and teaching foreign language using songs.