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Pre-Order Fred Lerdahl's New Book, The Sounds of Poetry Viewed as Music

Dec. 18, 2025

We are delighted to announce the upcoming release of a new book by renowned composer and music theorist, Fred Lerdahl by Columbia University Press. Titled The Sounds of Poetry Viewed as Music, the work gives substance to the metaphor "music as poetry" by building on recent research in linguistics and music theory to propose a theory of the sounds of poetry conceived in musical terms. It develops a rule-based methodology for assigning normative readings to the rhythms and contours of poetic lines. Each component of the theory is compared to earlier treatments both in traditional prosody and in generative metrics and intonational phonology. The theory’s predictions correspond well to recorded readings by poets and actors. The book also advances an original hierarchical treatment of syllabic rhyme, alliteration, and assonance.

The Sounds of Poetry Viewed as Music is an interdisciplinary project. In reconceiving prosody in musical terms, it offers a detailed treatment of the cognitive organization of poetic sounds, and by implication it supports the claim that music and language have a common ancestry in expressive vocalization. This book will engage readers of poetry, literary scholars, musicians, philosophers, and cognitive scientists interested in the intersection of the musical and linguistic capacities.

The Sounds of Poetry Viewed as Music can be pre-ordered here.

To explore Fred Lerdahl's music, visit schott-music.com. 
Learn more about his other writings at fredlerdahl.com.

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