How "A Musical Instrument" Embodies Divinity and Morality
Leah Rifkin and Sarah Cooper
Ryerson University
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Within art and literature, themes about women’s suffrage are common. Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s work has to be examined through multiple levels due to her status as a 19th century woman author. In "A Musical Instrument", Pan turns the world upside down with his rebellious, destructive ways, much as women’s movements threw the conventions of society to the side. The language in the poem makes this movement seem very thrilling (“Spreading ruin and scattering ban, splashing and paddling, hack’d and hew’d, piercing, blinding…”), and although it is vicious it is also exciting. In the poem, Pan first shows up a thundering monster, destroying the lilies and causing the dragonfly to abandon the river that it called home. These are quite similar to the traditionalists of the 1800’s that disliked the concept of change brought about by the notion of new freedoms and feared the destruction of their customs. However, after whittling the reed, Pan shows with his musical art and prowess that his actions have enhanced society. This is rather indicative of women writers everywhere in this time, who were becoming published and showing that they did have something to contribute to the art world. Of course, in the end both dragonfly and lily return to the river, heralding the acceptance that will come for women’s suffrage. The reed, representing the stringent rules set upon Victorian culture will never grow back in this form. But in their destruction they have been transformed into something much more constructive and cohesive for all.
ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING
William Holman Hunt
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Another interesting line to consider is Pan’s profession that his method is “The only way, since gods began/ To make sweet music, they could succeed.” There are two ways to view this with regards to feminist themes. Is Elizabeth Barrett Browning advocating an infiltration into a prejudiced society through arts and culture, via music, writing, painting, etc? Or, perhaps she refers to Pan’s violent actions as a course for more direct, disruptive means such as protestation/remonstration and confrontation. In some regards, it could be that she supports both methods. This aggressive method is necessary to destroy the current way of living and end oppression. The other, artistic approach is necessary to heal the world and show that change is indeed positive. The suffering that oppression brought can be built into a positive, creative endeavor. The article points out that art can be free from morals and religion (which the poem is not), however the moral disposition of artists will still influence their work. E.B. Browning had high moral standards as seen in her decision to publish in The Cornhill Magazine.@"Sir Frederick Leighton on Art and Ethics." Musical Times and Singing Class Circular Jan. 1882: 15-17. C19 Index. Web.
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A review of The Cornhill Magazine points out that the periodical entered the literary world in 1859 without creating much trouble for the social and political frameworks of Victorian society. It was the first of its kind to become more commercial in the literary marketplace. Writers and poets who were often featured in the magazine, including E.B. Browning, appealed to many different types of people from the aristocrats to middle-class workers. The Cornhill did not encroach on morals and aesthetics to the point of offending any readers. As the editor of the Victorian periodical, as a writer and as a social figure, William Thackeray had an enormous impact on the magazine's prestige because of the types of things he stood for: publishing content for all classes of readers no matter their gender, entertaining audiences and allowing them to understand simply "the sense of upheaval inherent in the world that was developing around them".@Maunder, Andrew. ""Discourses of Distinction": The Reception of the "Cornhill Magazine", 1859-60." Victorian Periodicals Review 32.3 (1999): 239-58. JSTOR. Web.
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The Cornhill Magazine had a certain prominence and reputation in Victorian society which lent the same sort of legitimacy to “A Musical Instrument”. By publishing her poetry in this magazine, E.B. Browning was insuring that she would be reaching women and informing them about the sort of feminist ‘upheaval’ that had already begun. The Cornhill had solidified its role as a well-known “family literary magazine” by 1860. Traditionally, public perception indicated that it was improper for women to be readers. For example, the 1832 painting "Le Roman" by Octave Tasaert depicts a woman engaging in sloppy, leisurely reading in a dark, ominous room. She is "mindlessly absorbing dangerous lessons from novels."@Bergman-Carton, Janis.The Woman of Ideas in French Art, 1830-1848. New Haven: Yale UP, 1995. Print. The Cornhill, however, did not subscribe to the idea of women being in a secondary role with regards to reading. Instead, they highlighted the positive effects of women’s reading practices and encouraged women to think of themselves as a part of a serious reading audience.@Jennifer Phegley,Educating the Proper Woman Reader: Victorian Family Literary Magazines and the Cultural Health of the Nation. (Columbus: Ohio State UP, 2004) 71. Google Books. Web. The Cornhill was the best choice for a pro-feminism piece, in fact, as it was supportive of women’s education in order to better the nation as a whole, reasoning that it was easing men’s burdens. At the same time, it kept out overtly controversial issues that might stir concern from more traditional men not wishing ‘their’ women to be exposed to such things.@Jennifer Phegley,Educating the Proper Woman Reader: Victorian Family Literary Magazines and the Cultural Health of the Nation. (Columbus: Ohio State UP, 2004) 71. Google Books. Web. Despite this unfortunate viewpoint, this allowed for more women to be reached by authors such as Browning and as such The Cornhill certainly seems to be a good fit for “A Musical Instrument”. |
Le Roman
By Octave Tasaert, 1832
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A Musical World
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Another good periodical in which to fit E.B.Browning’s poem was The Musical World. The periodical may have been titled in this way to pay tribute to art that possesses divine elements presented as music through the cadence of poetic works or within the themes and explicit subject matter of literary texts. As a periodical, it was solely dedicated to the topic of music and the use of the word ‘World’ in the title gives music its own sacred literary realm in which to reside. Comparing the poem’s publication in The Cornhill Magazine and in The Musical World, it is clear that the interpretations of the poem change when there is an image associated with it. Poems in general require at least two inches in a column but if a poem is placed in the center of a page with white space around it, the poem itself will stand out.@Hughes, Linda K. "What the Wellesley Index Left Out: Why Poetry Matters to Periodical Studies." Victorian Periodicals Review 40.2 (2007): 91-125. Project MUSE. Web. “A Musical Instrument” is known as an example of illustrated poetry and in The Cornhill, it is signed and separated from serial fiction.@Hughes, Linda K. "What the Wellesley Index Left Out: Why Poetry Matters to Periodical Studies." Victorian Periodicals Review 40.2 (2007): 91-125. Project MUSE. Web. His image was placed after the fifth stanza on a separate page and not coincidentally placed directly subsequent to the two lines in the fifth stanza which his image is portraying. Thackeray made this obvious design decision to make it easier for the reader to make connections between the poem and the wood engraving, thereby making the message of the poem much more clear. For the reader having an image to refer to after reading the poem or between verses of a poem makes it more of a visceral experience.
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