Respect for Tradition: The Role of War Poets in Michael Longley’s Poetry

Year 2017, Volume: 5 Issue: 2, 639 - 652, 30.11.2017

Mümin Hakkıoğlu

https://doi.org/10.18795/gumusmaviatlas.357733

Abstract

This
study investigates the reasons why the Northern Irish poet Michael Longley, who
makes explicit and implicit references in many of his poems to the war poets
who were killed during the First and Second World Wars, hosts his predecessors
in his poems. It can be asserted that the said interest has three root causes:
poetical, political and familial. Opening his poetry to the war poets, Longley
told the futility of war and implicitly of the conflicts that besieged his
country between the years 1969 and 1998, and warned the Northern Irish people
of the aftermath of violence. The poet, who regards his father who served as a
major and his uncle who worked behind the trenches during the First World War
as brothers-in-arms with the war poets, transforms them into relatives of his
family and distinguished members of his own poetic universe, as it were. On the
other hand, through such a treatment, he aims to make a room for himself within
the poetic tradition and commune with it. Accordingly, as Longley poetically
re-gives presence to the war poets by remembering them and reminding the
others, he simultaneously attempts to prove his own poetic presence. In this
sense, remembering enables the society to take lessons from the past and
Longley to make a room for himself within the poetic tradition.

Keywords

Michael Longley, War Poets, Northern Irish Poetry, The Troubles

Geleneğe Saygı: Michael Longley’nin Şiirlerinde Savaş Şairlerinin Rolü

Abstract

Bu
çalışma, I. ve II. Dünya Savaşları’nda yaşamlarını yitiren savaş şairlerine
birçok şiirinde açık ya da örtülü göndermede bulunan Kuzey İrlandalı şair
Michael Longley’nin öncellerini şiirlerine konuk etme nedenlerini
incelemektedir. Sözü edilen ilginin şiirsel, politik ve ailesel olmak üzere üç
temel nedeni olduğu söylenebilir. Longley, şiirlerini savaş şairlerine açarak
savaşın ve dolaylı olarak 1969-1998 yılları arasında ülkesini kuşatan silahlı
çatışmaların boşunalığını anlatmış ve şiddetin sonuçlarına yönelik Kuzey
İrlanda halkına uyarılarda bulunmuştur. I. Dünya Savaşı’nda binbaşı olarak
görev yapan babasını ve cephe gerisinde çalışan dayısını savaş şairlerinin
silah arkadaşları gibi düşünen şair, onları adeta birer aile yakınına ve kendi
şiir evreninin seçkin üyelerine dönüştürür. Öte yandan, böyle bir yaklaşımla,
kendisine şiir geleneği içinde bir yer açmayı ve bu gelenekle bütünleşmeyi
amaçlar. Buna göre, Longley savaş şairlerini hatırlayıp başkalarına
hatırlatarak şiirsel düzeyde onlara yeniden varlık kazandırırken, eşzamanlı
olarak kendi poetik varlığını kanıtlamaya çalışır. Bu anlamda, hatırlama
topluma geçmişten ders çıkarma, Longley’ye ise kendisine şiir geleneği içinde
yer açma olanağı verir.

Keywords

Michael Longley, Savaş Şairleri, Kuzey İrlanda Şiiri, İrlanda Sorunu

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