Musical Poet
...: Thomas Campion. The title stems from Kastendieck’s belief that Campion incorporated much of the music he wrote into the poetry he wrote and vice versa. To prove this argument, Kastendieck tackles this subject by dividing it into the following three subtopics: the musician as poet, the poet as musician, and finally, the musical poet. Kastendieck focuses more so on comparing other composers and writers’ works to Campion’s work to prove his point, but in doing so, proves that the contrast actually lies in the comparison. Though his argument is quite valid and he offers sufficient evidence in his claim, the tactics used in his approach to this subject is quite redundant. He seems to just add a little more evidence with one subtopic than the other, yet it is obvious that the evidence provided could be applied to another subtopic. Regardless, Kastendieck does succeed at proving how influential music was on Campion’s poetry and vice versa. The first step taken in the analysis of Campion’s style was the examination of the musician as poet. Kastendieck says that “music was so prevalent that poets could hardly escape its influence.” He continues saying “Not only was it spoken of in poetical terms, but poetry was measured by musical notes.” Statements like these diminish the idea that Campion’s incorporation of music in his poetry made him “special” or set him apart thereby making his style significant or “trendsetting”. However, the proof lies in the evidence that Campion himself provides in his own Two Bookes of Ayres when he says “I haue chiefely aymed to couple my Words and Notes louingly together.” The fact that Campion intentionally blended th...