MUSIC IN ENGLISH LITERATURE

Aristotle very aptly remarks that music is the very food of soul. It is undoubtedly true when all pervasive effect of music is taken into account in all realms of life and of nature as well. Without music, we cannot imagine the very existence of Nature. In each and every aspect of nature, there is the invisible and invincible impact of music. In almost all cultures of the world, where music is an integral part of life, music has always held its dominant niche and imparted multiple dimensions and meanings to almost all aspects of life. Literature as one of the arts of expressions too cannot remain away from music as one of the elemental components. Looking into English Literature, one may easily trace the use of musical elements in it. Even Aristotle in his Poetics considers music as one of six key elements of poetry. The paper purports to highlight as to how English Literature, written especially after Elizabethan Era, has made music as one of its key elements and in turn one of the sources of insatiable pleasure and how it galvanized the literary world