Incredibly, until the cusp of the nineteenth century, the word rhythm was not widely used. It likewise had no cultural connotations. The Turn of Rhythm traces the complex and overlooked way in which anglophone culture “got rhythm,” concentrating on the pivotal role that poetry played in that narrative.

Drawing on the work of Robert Browning, George Eliot, Alice Meynell and A. C. Swinburne, as well as on the philosophy, science, and anthropology of the day, Ewan Jones traces the history of the concept of rhythm with the hope of enabling it to perform new work in the ongoing education of our bodies and minds.

“A learned book that historicizes the emergence and fluctuation of conceptions of rhythm in Anglophone culture across the nineteenth century, engaging with literary, musical, philosophical and scientific thinking on rhythm, meter and cognate subjects. Its strengths—wide-ranging research, curious and provocative couplings of figures and sources, and often penetrating analysis—are many.”
Jason David Hall, University of Exeter, author of Nineteenth-Century Verse and Technology: Machines of Meter

Link to further information about the book.

Link to an interview with Ewan Jones.