Alexander's Feast, or the Power of Music Essay Questions

For what occasion did Dryden write "Alexander's Feast"?

In the epigraph of the poem, the author mentions that the poem was written to commemorate St. Cecilia’s day in the year 1697. St. Cecilia is considered by many to be the patroness of music and among the first one to sing praise to God on her wedding day. It is believed that Cecilia was a woman from a noble Roman family who converted to the Christian faith somewhere in the third century. She vowed to remain a virgin but was forced by her parents to marry a man they chose. According to the legend, Cecilia converted her husband to the Christian faith and later they were both killed for their faith, thus becoming martyrs.

Who was Alexander the Great and who was the King of Persia he fought against?

Alexander the Great was a King who lived in the 3rd century BCE. Alexander the Great is also mentioned in the Bible by name. By the time he was thirty, he had conquered many territories and created one of the biggest empires in the world. His last battles were against the King of Persia, Darius, whom he defeated. After defeating the King of Persia, he returned home. One of the differences between the poem and the actual historic facts is that in reality, Alexander the Great did not return home before setting the Persian capital on fire. In the poem, he returns later to set the capital on fire, convinced by the bard who sings to him about revenge.

How does the end of the poem reflect the poet's views about Christianity?

In the ending of the poem, King Alexander is presented as being controlled by his rage and then going to set the Persian capital on fire. It is important to note that up until this point, the Christian God has not been mentioned in the poem—only a series of pagan gods. After the poet writes about how Alexander was influenced by the cunning bard and by his music to set the Persian capital on fire, he goes to write about how things changed once Cecilia was born. Once she came to be, music was no longer used in a negative way but rather only for good and to worship God. Dryden is suggesting that Christianity changed the world for the better, and that powerful things like music that, up until then, had often been used maliciously were given a better purpose.

How does the poem address, or fail to address, the problem of gender?

While “Alexander’s Feast” is centered largely upon the narratives of male characters (e.g., Alexander the Great, the king's male peers, Timotheus, and Darius), it also features several women: Thais, the attractive-yet-warlike trophy wife of Alexander the Great; Olympia, whom Jove takes as his wife; Helen of Troy, whose face launched a thousand ships; finally, St. Cecilia, the Catholic martyr and patroness of music.

It can be argued that, while the poem ostensibly features a diversity of women characters, it in fact constructs a dichotomy between two different female archetypes—the speaker seems to characterize pagan women (Thais, Olympia, Helen) and Christian women (St. Cecilia) in contrasting manners. The pagan female characters, for instance, are objectified (e.g., “The lovely Thais by his side / Sate like a blooming Eastern bride”), sexualized (e.g., “When he[Jove] to fair Olympia prest, / And while he sought her snowy breast, / Then round her slender waist he curl’d”), and given secondary roles in moments of male action (e.g., “Thais led the way / To light him to his prey”). St. Cecilia, on the other hand, is commended for her musical talent (e.g., “At last divine Cecilia came. / Inventress of the vocal frame”), takes on active narrative roles (e.g., “Enlarged the former narrow bounds, / And added length to solemn sounds”), and is above, or isolated from, the dynamics of sexual desire.

“Alexander’s Feast” positions women who conform to Christian values against those who are pagan, sexualized, and belligerent. On one hand, it seems to be a matter of course that the poem exalts a saint as a divine and morally supreme figure; on the other, it can be argued that the poem reflects a dualistic attitude (often referred to today as the “Madonna-whore complex”) toward women characters, which, by modern-day standards, may be read as an oversimplifying and one-dimensional depiction of women.

How does “Alexander’s Feast, or the Power of Music” illustrate the relationship between music and politics?

Dryden’s central argument in “Alexander’s Feast” is that music has the capacity to shape the emotions, thoughts, and actions of its listeners, and that, in politics, music can be used, as a way to influence individuals for the good, as well as abused, as a means of manipulation and as a catalyst of conflict, violence, and disorder.

The positive effects of music are illustrated in Stanzas 4 and 5, for instance, where Timotheus uses his song to help Alexander the Great and his people to exercise empathy. The bard’s requiem for Darius allows King Alexander to depart (though temporarily) from his vainglory and, with an “alter’d soul,” reflect upon his own acts of violence. Timotheus’s lyrics help the monarch and his guests to contemplate the evils of war and the ephemerality of military fame: “War, he sung, is toil and trouble, / Honour but an empty bubble.” Stanzas 4 and 5 demonstrate the ability of music to encourage its listeners towards ethical thoughts and actions.

Other parts of the narrative, then, show that music can also be abused as a means to encourage mass debauchery, rage, division, and destruction. In the early stanzas of the poem, music and festivities lead to decadence (“The master saw the madness rise, / His glowing cheeks, his ardent eyes”), pride (“The monarch hears, / Assumes the god; / Affects to nod, / And seems to shake the spheres”), and callousness toward violence (“Soothed with the sound, the king grew vain; / Fought all his battles o’er again”). In Stanza 6, Timotheus’s song (“Revenge, revenge, Timotheus cries, / See the Furies arise!”) leads to anger and mass destruction.

Demonstrating both the ethical and unethical outcomes of a musical performance, “Alexander’s Feast” argues that the power of music must be harnessed properly. Works of art such as music can influence both the decisions of those in power (e.g., Alexander the Great) and the actions of the masses (e.g., the guests at the feast who proceed to burn down Persepolis)—depending on how it is used, music (as well as other art forms) can lead to impulsive and poorly informed decisions, or it can inspire catharsis, healing, and growth in its listeners. The power of music over politics is that it can start a war or bring peace.