The Music of Poetry Reimagined

A bold reimagining of T. S. Eliot's modernism through the structural logic of jazz. This book proposes a new way of reading T. S. Eliot, positioning the poet as a "structural improviser" whose techniques mirror the formal principles of jazz. Drawing on Ted Gioia's jazz theory to explore six musical dimensions-rhythm, melody, harmony, timbre, texture, and form-the study reveals how Eliot internalized jazz's compositional strategies. From the riff-like refrains of Prufrock to the polyphonic, ensemble-like layering of The Waste Land and the extended improvisations of his later poetry, this book establishes a profound interdisciplinary methodology. It shows how Eliot's use of syncopation, theme-and-variation, and flexible phrasing redefines modernist free verse as an art that composes in motion.