Liszt gives poetry an image of theatrical genius, technical brilliance, and Romantic excess. His career as a travelling virtuoso made him almost legendary, while his later religious and experimental works complicate the image of mere showmanship. Poets may invoke him to suggest fire at the keyboard, artistic glamour, ecstatic display, or the restless transformation of virtuosity into spiritual seeking.

Liszt offers poetry an image of virtuosity almost theatrical in its force: the dazzling pianist, the charismatic performer, the innovator, the celebrity before modern celebrity. His later religious turn also lets poets contrast flamboyance with penitence. Allusions may involve flying hands, feverish audiences, Hungarian colour, the symphonic poem, or music as both spectacle and spiritual striving.