THE CONSTRUCTION OF A NATIONAL IDENTITY: W. B. YEATS’ POETRY

Abstract

Yeats is the most prominent devotee and initiator of the Irish Literary Revival in the early 20th century. Irishness/Irish culture was a theme he handled since his early ages. His poetic themes ranging from love to the art of poetry are preoccupied with the theme of Irishness reinforced with images and stories from Irish/Celtic mythologies and present Irish sites. Yeats’ praxis of mythic/past elements together with Irish sites in his poetic universe creates a bondage between old and present Irishness. Hence his poetry is turned into a declaration of opinions and intentions on an idealized Irish culture. This study aims at presenting how Yeats is manifesting an ideology to fight for a heritage and national identity by visiting Irish and Celtic mythologies as well as current Irish sites, and thus creating a performative discourse in his poetry that promotes conceptual and practical understanding of Irishness to be exercised.

Keywords

• W. B. Yeats
• national identity
• Irishness
• Irish mythology
• Irish sites

ULUSAL KİMLİĞİN İNŞASI: W.B. YEATS’İN ŞİİRİ

Abstract

Yeats, 20. yüzyılın başlarındaki İrlanda Edebi Uyanışı'na kendini adayan ve kuruluşunda yer alan önemli bir şahsiyettir. İrlandalılık veya İrlanda kültürü de erken yaşlarından itibaren ele aldığı hem ilk hem de geç temalardan biridir. Aşktan şiir sanatına kadar uzanan şiirsel temaları bile İrlanda/Kelt mitolojisi ve bugünkü İrlanda ile ilgili mekânsal imgeler ile yoğrulmuştur. Çelişkili görünse de Yeats’in mitolojik/tarihsel unsurları İrlanda’ya özgü bugünün mekanlarıyla birlikte kullanması, eski ve şimdiki İrlandalılık arasında bir bağ oluşturur. Böylelikle şiirleri, idealize edilmiş İrlanda kimliği üzerine fikirlerinin ve temennilerinin bir deklarasyonu haline gelir. Bu çalışmanın amacı, Yeats'in İrlanda/Kelt mitolojilerinin yanı sıra İrlanda’ya özgü mekânsal öğeleri ele alarak bir miras ve kimlik için mücadele etme ideolojisini nasıl ortaya koyduğunu ve böylece şiirinde İrlandalılığın tatbik edilebileceği kavramsal ve pratiğe dönük bir anlayışı destekleyen performatif bir söylem yarattığını ortaya koymaktır.

Keywords

• W. B. Yeats
• ulusal kimlik
• İrlandalılık
• İrlanda mitolojisi
• İrlanda mekanları

References

1. Allison, Jonathan, (2006), “War, Passive Suffering, and the Poet”, The Sewanee Review, 114(2), 207-219.
2. Armao, Frédéric, (2016), “From Yeats to Friel: Irish Mythology Through Arts and Science in the 20th Century”, Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 115-125, http://journals.openedition.org/etudesirlandaises/4842, Retrieved February 15, 2021.
3. Austin, John Langshaw, (1962), How to Do Things with Words, London: Oxford University Press.
4. Bender, Jacob, (2017), “The Waters and the Wild: W.B. Yeats, Julia de Burgos, and Romantic Wilderness”, The Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association, 50(2), 31-55.
5. Brooks, Victoria, (2000), Literary Trips: Following in the Footsteps of Fame, Canada: Greatest Escapes Publishing.
6. Cavanaugh, Jillian, (2020),“Performativity”, Oxford Bibliographies, www.oxfordbibliographies.com, Retrieved February 15, 2021.
7. Doren, Mark Van, (1929), An Anthology of World Poetry, San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
8. Green, Alice Stopford, (1911), Irish Nationality, New York: Henry Holt and Company.

9. Grene, Nicholas, (2008), Yeats’s Poetic Codes, New York: Oxford University Press.
10. Jeffares, Alexander Norman, (1968), A Commentary on the Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats, London: Palgrave Macmillan.
11. Koch, John T. (2006), Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia, Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-Clio.
12. Monaghan, Patricia, (2004), The Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore, New York: Facts On File.
13. Mulcahey, Mark, (2000), “W.B. Yeats’ Influence on Irish nationalism, 1916-1923”, HISTORIA, (A. Steadman and M. Hawks, Eds.). Eastern Illinois University, Vol 9, pp. 19-32.
14. O’Giollain, Diarmuid, (2012), “Ireland”. A Companion to Folklore, (R. F. Bendix and H. R. Galit, Eds.), Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
15. O'Kelly, Ciaran, (2004), “Politics of Identity - V: Being Irish”, Government and Opposition, 39-(3), 2004, pp. 504–520.
16. Phillips, Brian, (2004), “Everything and Nothing in Yeats”, The Hudson Review, 57- (1), pp. 141–149.
17. Pittock, Murray, (1999), Celtic Identity and the British Image. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
18. Pokorna, Lenka, (2012), Celtic Elements in Yeats’s Early Poetry and their Influence on Irish National Identity, Masaryk University Faculty of Arts, Print, Master Thesis, is.muni.cz/th/q5omq/Celtic_Elements_in_Yeats_s_Early_Poetry.pdf. Retrieved February 15, 2021.
19. Proshansky, Harold M., Fabian, Abbe K. and Kaminoff, Robert, (1983), “Place-identity: Physical World Socialization of the Self”, Journal of Environmental Psychology, 3.1 57-(83).
20. Rolleston, Thomas William, (1911), Myths & Legends of The Celtic Race, London: Harrap.
21. Schuchard, Ronald, (1998), “Yeats and Spirituality”. The Princeton University Library Chronicle,59-(3), pp. 321–349.
22. Soper, Kerry, (2005), “From Swarthy Ape to Sympathetic Everyman and Subversive Trickster: the Development of Irish Caricature in American Comic Strips Between 1890 and 1920”, Journal of American Studies, 39-(2), 257–296.
23. Stallworthy, Jon and Yeats, William Butler, (1966), “W. B. Yeats's 'Under Ben Bulben'”, The Review of English Studies, 17( 65), 30–53.
24. Swift, Roger, (1997), “Heroes or Villains?: the Irish, Crime, and Disorder in Victorian England”, Albion: A Quarterly Journal Concerned with British Studies, 29-(3), 399–421.
25. Walsh, Thomas, (2016), “The National System of Education, 1831–2000”, Essays in the History of Irish Education, (B. Walsh, Ed.). p. 7-43.
26. Yeats, William Butler, (1989), The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats: A New Edition (R. J. Finneran, Ed.), New York: Palgrave.
27. Yeats, William Butler, (1999), Autobiographies (W. H. O’Donnel and D. N. Archibald, Eds.), New York: Scribner.
28. Yeats, William Butler, (2017), Poems Lyrical and Narrative, BoD-Books on Demand, books.google.com.tr/books?id=sthBDwAAQBAJ, Retrieved February 15, 2021.
29. Yeats, William Butler, (2018), The Celtic Twilight, Global Gray Ebooks, www.globalgreyebooks.com/celtic-twilight-ebook.html, Retrieved February 15, 2021.