Introduction

Abstract

At the turn of the twentieth century, scholars in the fields of physics, physiology, psychology, and prosody were engaged in the formation of a scientific discourse on rhythm that informed the critical and creative writings of modernist authors such as James Joyce. Contrary to the aesthetic conception of rhythm developed by the classical Greeks (Plato, Aristotle, and Aristoxenus), which is identified with the recur-ring temporal forms of music, poetry, and dance, scientists studying rhythm in the middle to late nineteenth century discovered periodic movements occurring in all spheres of nature. As “rhythm” was studied from a number of different perspectives, the term began to acquire a set of new connotations, including the vibrations of light and sound waves, the elliptical movement of planetary bodies, the cyclical growth of living organisms, as well as the perception of recurring, temporal patterns. In many ways, the development of the new “rhythmic” science was prefigured by Herbert Spencer’s chapter on “The Rhythm of Motion” in First Principles (1880), for the English philosopher there develops a physical conception of rhythm as the periodic equalization of force that is applied to diverse fields such as evolutionary biology, physiology, psychology, and prosody. Significantly, Spencer traces the rhythms of music and poetry to the alternating phases of tension and relaxation that regulate the healthy functioning of the human body, thereby reducing the origin of art to periodic processes occurring in nature.