The connections between electronic line broadening processes in solids and liquids have been explored with transient hole burning measurements. Homogeneous and inhomogeneous broadening in solids correspond to phonon-induced and structural components of relaxation in the liquid. These ideas lead to a quantitatively accurate viscoelastic model of electronic state solvation in liquids in which changes in molecular size upon excitation are responsible for the coupling to the surrounding medium. Mode-coupling theory accurately represents the decay shapes and temperature dependence of the structural relaxation.