The word choices that a poet makes help the poem to become musical. Emily Dickinson, Edgar Allen Poe, and Walt Whitman clearly all have very different styles of writing and or word choosing. It becomes very clear as you read their work how the use of one word over another changes the musicality of the poem. That is not to say; however, that Dickinson’s poem “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” is more musical than Poe’s “Conqueror Worm” or Whitman’s “I Hear America Singing” because she uses a more refined, genteel language that is easier on the ear. To compare the works of these writers in this way is like saying that the compositions of Franz Schubert are more musical than those of Gustav Mahler or Ludwig Von Beethoven because they are pretty and easy to listen to. To find the true music in a piece of poetry the text needs to be examined individually, not in comparison to another work.
When looking at the basic text of Whitman’s “I Hear America Singing” it is easy to pick out the superficial musicality, the entire poem is about people singing. Does that mean that because “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” and “Conqueror Worm” does not have musical terms jumping out at the reader they are not musical? As a reader we need to look beyond the actual words to get the full picture and to find the music.
One of the first things necessary to “find the music” is a close examination of the words the poet chose. Why did they use one set of words when it would be easier to say it another way? It would definitely have been easier for the reader if Poe, instead of saying “Lo! ‘t is a gala night” had simply said “Wow! What a night.” But, that simple change in words changed the total effect for the opening stanza. Like wise, “the carriage held but just ourselves” would be much clearer if Dickinson had worded it, “We were the only ones in the carriage” but the overall effect of the lines is lost when a change like that is made, and with it a little bit of the musicality of the poem.
The syllabic rhythm of the poems also lend to the overall musicality of the poem. In some poems, like those of Dickinson, it is easy to find the syllabic rhythm pattern. The lilt of the 8-6-8-6 syllable pattern in “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” makes the poem feel comfortable even with the difficult subject matter. On the other hand the varied syllabic rhythm in “Conqueror Worm” makes the readers feel uneasy, which follows the uneasiness of the text.
A poem has definite musical qualities. They are defined and outlined by the word choices that the poet makes. The word choices then allow the reader to have a specific emotional attachment to the poem, be it uneasy like in the Poe, comfortable like in the Dickinson, or proud like in the Whitman. All of this shows the musicality of the poem.