“Wrong End of the Long Telescope of Time”: Contemporary British Poetry

Abstract

Abstract: The long-term effects and traumatic outcomes of significant social and political events, such as urbanization, World War I, World War II, the use of the atomic bomb, and the conflict between England and Ireland, as well as the scientific and philosophical theories of Charles Darwin (1809–1882), Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–190), Sigmund Freud (1856–1939), and Albert Einstein (1879–1955), will be examined in this study. Poetry by authors like D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930), Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936), Wilfred Owen (1983–18), Siegfried Sassoon (1886–1967), Seamus Heaney (1939–2013), and Carol Ann Duffy (1955–) will be cited in relation to certain historical anecdotes. These poets were intelligent enough to see the other side of the medallion. However, one should also examine the reason why they wrote in this manner and why it was glorified by the reader. The explanation appears to be the repeated despair transmitted by massive, phenomenal occurrences throughout the century; as a result, people gravitated toward stories of marginal individuals rather than glorified fames, power sources, and titans. Urbanization and mechanization, international wars, and the atomic bomb, which promised a better and more relaxing world followed by covert advances in science, psychology, and philosophy, all failed and led to people becoming even more pessimistic.

Keywords

• D. H. Lawrence
• Rudyard Kipling
• Wilfred Owen
• Siegfried Sassoon
• Seamus Heaney
• Carol Ann Duffy
• Contemporary British Poetry

References

1. Bloom, H. (2003). Biography of Siegfried Sassoon.” Poets of World War I: Rupert Brooke & Siegfried Sassoon (pp. 43–46). Chelsea House Publishers.
2. Clark, M. (2011). Modern European philosophy: Nietzsche on truth and philosophy. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
3. Draper, R. P. (1999). An introduction to twentieth-century poetry in English. New York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan.
4. Draper, R. P. (1997). The Critical Heritage. Psychology Press.
5. Duffy, C. (n.d.). Carol Ann Duffy - Frau Freud.” Genius, genius.com/carol-ann-duffy-frau-freud-annotated.
6. Duffy, C. (n.d.). “'Mrs Midas' Scottish Poetry Library, www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/mrs-midas/.
7. Duffy, C. (n.d.). “'War Photographer' Scottish Poetry Library, www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/war-photographer/.
8. Encyclopaedia Britannica (Ed.). (1998). Gethsemane.” Encyclopaedia Britannica.

9. Fredrix, M. (2015). Seamus Heaney’s poetry Collection ‘North’ as a reaction to the Northern-Irish troubles. Katholieke Unıversiteıt Leuven.
10. Heaney, S. (2018). “Digging”. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries (S. Greenblatt, J. Ramazani, & W. W. Norton, Eds.).
11. Heaney, S. (2018). “Punishment”. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries (S. Greenblatt, J. Ramazani, & W. W. Norton, Eds.).
12. Horrocks, R. (2001). Freud revisited: Psychoanalytic themes in the postmodern age. Springer.
13. Johnson, J. M. (1983). The Theory of Relativity in Modern Literature: An Overview and "The Sound and the Fury". Journal of Modern Literature, 10(2), 217–230.
14. Kipling, R. (n.d.). “Gethsemane”. Retrieved 5 February 2024, from The Kipling Society website: https://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/poem/poems_gethsem.htm
15. Kipling, R. (n.d.). “For All We Have And Are 1914”. Retrieved 5 February 2024, from Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57431/for-all-we-have-and-are
16. Kipling, R. (n.d.). “Mesopotomia 1917” Retrieved 5 February 2024, from Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57430/mesopotamia-56d23af3008a7
17. Lawrence, D. H. (n.d.). “Fireflies in the Corn” Retrieved 5 February 2024, from Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?contentId=12810.
18. Lawrence, D. H. (n.d.). “Humming Bird”, Retrieved 5 February 2024, from Poetsgraves, www.poetsgraves.co.uk/ClassicPoems/Lawrence/humming_bird.htm.
19. Lawrence, D. H. (2018). ‘Snake’ The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries. (S. Greenblatt, J. Ramazani, & W. W. Norton, Eds.).
20. Lawrence, D. H. (n.d.) “Tortoise Shout” Retrieved 5 February 2024, from Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47366/tortoise-shout.
21. Levine, G. (1986). “Darwin and the evolution of fiction”. Retrieved 5 February 2024, from The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/1986/10/05/books/darwin-and-the-evolution-of-fiction.html
22. Mayr, E. (2004). Darwin’s influence on modern thought. In What Makes Biology Unique? (pp. 83–96). doi:10.1017/cbo9780511617188.007
23. Mcgivering, J. (2012). “For all we have and are”. Retrieved 5 February 2024, from Kipling Society, https://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/readers-guide/rg_forall1.htm
24. Nietzsche, F. (2023). Complete Works of Friedrich Nietzsche. Delphi Classics
25. Scarfe, F. (1930). Auden and After: The Liberation of Poetry, 1930-1941. Routledge.