Edith Sitwell’in “Polka” Şiirinde Grotesk Ses Poetikası ve Edimsel Taklit

Abstract

İngiliz modernizminin hem yüceltilen hem de eleştirel olarak göz ardı edilen paradoksal figürlerinden Edith Sitwell, ses, soyutlama ve performansa dayalı yenilikçi yaklaşımlarıyla deneysel poetikaya önemli katkılarda bulunmuştur. Façade (1922) derlemesinde yer alan “Polka” adlı şiiri, ritmik aşırılık, işitsel parçalanma ve edimsel taklit yoluyla karakterize edilen grotesk ses poetikasının bir örneğidir. Bu şiir, emperyalist ve toplumsal cinsiyete dayalı yapıların istikrarsız teatral doğasını açığa çıkarır. Bu makale, “Polka”yı grotesk ses poetikası ve edimsel taklidin iç içe geçmiş çerçeveleri üzerinden inceleyerek, geleneksel lirik yapıları parçaladığını ve şiirsel sesi, bozulmuş bir edimsel alan olarak yeniden yapılandırdığını öne sürer. Sitwell, kimlik oluşumu, kültürel bellek ve emperyalist fantezi çerçevesinde, Britanya emperyalizmini ve cinsiyet temelli anlatıları sorgular. Gerçekliğin absürtlüğünü yansıtmak yerine taklit eden şiir, geleneksel mimesisi altüst ederek baskın kimlikleri aldatıcı ve istikrarsız yapılar olarak ifşa eder. Bu edimsel taklidin merkezinde, tekrarlayan dansı ve parçalı konuşmalarıyla kimliği teatral bir gösteriye dönüştüren grotesk bir vodvil figür olan Bay Wagg yer alır. Nelson, Wellington, Byron ve Crusoe gibi tarihsel ikonlar ise çürümekte olan bir emperyalist sistemin görkemlerinden arındırılmış sahne dekorlarına indirgenmiştir. Bu çalışma “Polka”yı modernist ses poetikası ve edimsel taklit bağlamında yeniden konumlandırarak, Sitwell’in şiiri kimliğin, toplumsal cinsiyet ve emperyalist fantezilerin parodiye indirgendiği edimsel bir sahneye nasıl dönüştürdüğünü tartışır.

Keywords

• Edith Sitwell
• edimsel taklit
• grotesk
• ses poetikası
• aldatıcı kimlik

Grotesque Sound Poetics and Performative Mimesis in Edith Sitwell’s “Polka”

Abstract

Edith Sitwell, a paradoxical figure in British modernism—both celebrated and critically underestimated—made significant contributions to experimental poetics through her innovative use of sound, abstraction, and performance. Her poem “Polka,” from the Façade collection (1922) exemplifies her grotesque sound poetics through rhythmic excess, sonic fragmentation, and performative mimesis, exposing the unstable theatricality of imperial and gendered constructs. This article explores “Polka” through the intertwined lenses of grotesque sound poetics and performative mimesis, arguing that it dismantles traditional lyric structures and reconfigures poetic voice as a site of distorted performativity. Sitwell challenges British imperial and gendered narratives within a broader framework of identity formation, cultural memory, and imperial fantasy. By mimicking, rather than mirroring, the absurdities of reality, the poem subverts conventional mimesis, revealing dominant identities as illusory and unstable. Central to this performative mimesis is Mr. Wagg, a grotesque vaudevillian whose repetitive dance and fragmented speech transform identity into theatrical spectacle. Historical icons like Nelson, Wellington, Byron and Crusoe are reduced to props within decaying imperialism, stripped of their grandeur. Repositioning “Polka” within modernist sound poetics and performative mimesis, this study argues that Sitwell transforms poetry into a performative stage where identity, gender and imperial fantasies collapse into parody.

Keywords

• Edith Sitwell
• performative mimesis
• grotesque
• sound poetics
• illusory identity

Supporting Institution

This study was conducted without any financial support.

Thanks

In this study, artificial intelligence-supported tools were used to a limited extend within the acceptable boundaries defined in Nesir: Journal of Literary Studies’ Artificial Intelligence Use Policy; all content has been reviewed and approved in its final form by the author.

References

1. Baktır, Hasan. “The Concept of Imitation in Plato and Aristotle (Aristo ve Plato’da Taklit).” Erciyes Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi 1, no. 15 (2003): 167-179.
2. Baumgartel, Stephan Arnulf. “Performative Mimesis-Immediacy in Action or the Action of Meditation.” Conceição | Concept 7, no. 2 (2018): 110-142.
3. Bennett, Anthony. “Music in the Halls.” In Music Hall: Performance and Style, edited by J. S. Bratton, 1-22. Open University Press, 1986.
4. Buja, Maureen. “Composers and Poets: Walton and Sitwell.” Interlude, 2022. Accessed June 28, 2025. https://interlude.hk/composers-and-poets-william-walton-and-edith-sitwell-facade-an-entertainment/
5. Butler, Judith. “Gender Regulations.” In Undoing Gender, 1-19. Routledge, 1997.
6. Chopinot, Régine “Façade, un divertissement.” Numeridanse, 1993. Accessed July 5, 2025. https://numeridanse.com/en/publication/facade-un-divertissement/
7. Cole, Zelda. “Edith Sitwell: A Critical Survey of Selected Poems 1913-1954, in the Light of Her Spiritual Conversation.” MA thesis, University of Ottawa, 1967.
8. Danacı, Selvi Fahriye. “An English Eccentric: Edith Sitwell and Her Experiments with Sound in Façade.” Hacettepe University Journal of Letters 35, no. 1 (2018): 122-129. Accessed March 22, 2025. https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/627734

9. Deutsch, Babette. Poetry In Our Time. Columbia University Press, 1956. Accessed July 7, 2025. https://dokumen.pub/poetry-in-our-time-9780231888240.html
10. “Edith Sitwell: Biography 2022.” Accessed July 8, 2025. https://www.ebsco.com/research- starters/history/edith-sitwell
11. Elborn, Geoffrey. Edith Sitwell: A Biography. Doubleday, 1981.
12. Evans, Edwin. “Modern British Composer (New Series): I. William Walton.” The Musical Times and Singing-Class Circular 85, no. 1221 (November 1944): 329-332.
13. Fan, Weina. “Ways of Being Modern: Innovation in the Poetry of Six Women Poets, 1910s-1930s.” PhD diss., University of Western Australia, 2015.
14. Greene, Richard. “Edith Sitwell: Avant-garde Poet, English Genius.” Reviews in History, Virago, 2011. Accessed July 3, 2025. https://reviews.history.ac.uk/review/1390/print/
15. Heninger, Stefan Kai. “Sidney’s Speaking Pictures and the Theatre,” Style 23, no. 3 (1989): 395- 404.
16. Levy, Asha. (2024, October 24). “Edith Sitwell: Beyond the Façade.” Bluestocking Oxford. Accessed August 23, 2025. https://blue-stocking.org.uk/2024/10/25/edith-sitwell-beyond- the-facade/
17. Masud, Noreen. “Shady Pleasures: Modernist Nonsense.” In The Edinburgh Companion to Nonsense, edited by Andrew Barton and James Williams, 123-135. Edinburgh University Press, 2021. Accessed April 22, 2025. https://nonsenselit.com/2022/01/23/the-edinburgh- companion-to-nonsense-literature/
18. McBeath, Kevin. “Façade: A Noise Like Amber.” In William Walton: Music and Literature, edited by S. R. Craggs, 34-58. Ashgate, 1999.
19. Merrifield, Andy. “Dada New Year: Tristan Tzara’s Boom, Boom, Boom.” 2013. Accessed July 7, 2025. https://andymerrifield.org/2023/01/07/dada-new-year-tristan-tzaras-boom-boom- boom/
20. Mete, Barış. “Mimetic Tradition and the Critical Theory.” Selçuk Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi 39 (2018): 216-224.
21. Milian, Patrick. “Intermedial Modernism: Music, Dance, and Sound.” PhD diss., University of Washington, 2019. Accessed July 7, 2025. https://digital.lib.washington.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/2add9ca6-eed9-491b-838d- 0ebd27187de1/content
22. Myers, Martin. “The History of Polka: From Europe to Northeast Ohio.” PBS Western Reserve, 2013. Accessed July 6, 2025. https://www.pbswesternreserve.org/blogs/luminus-stories- about-us/the-history-of-polka-from-europe-to-northeast-ohio/
23. “Oompah.” Oxford English Dictionary. Accessed August 24, 2025. https://www.oed.com/dictionary/oompah_n?tab=meaning_and_use#33610531
24. Perloff, Marjorie and Craig Dworkin. Eds. The Sound of Poetry / The Poetry of Sound. University of Chicago Press, 2009.
25. Russolo, Luigi. The Art of Noise. Translated by R. Filliou. Something Else Press, 1967. Originally published 1913. Accessed July 3, 2025. http://www.artype.de/Sammlung/pdf/russolo_noise.pdf
26. Severin, Laura. “Acting ‘Out’: The Performances of Edith Sitwell and Stevie Smith.” In Poetry Off the Page: Twentieth-Century British Women Poets in Performance. Ashgate, 2004.
27. Sitwell, Edith. Façade. The Favil Press, 1922.
28. ———. “Some Notes on My Poetry.” In Selected Poems, edited by Edith Sitwell, 9-55. Duckworth, 1936.
29. ———. The Canticle of the Rose Poems: 1917-1949. Vanguard Press, 1949.
30. ———. Façade and Other Poems, 1920-1935. Duckworth, 1950.
31. ———. Taken Care of: An Autobiography. Atheneum, 1965.
32. ———. The Collected Poems of Edith Sitwell. Vanguard Press, 1968.
33. “The British Music Collection.” Façade for Reciter and Orchestra (Poems by Edith Sitwell): “Polka.” YouTube video, October 11, 2013. Accessed July 5, 2025. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTf0CpWd0iw
34. “The William Walton Trust: Biography.” Accessed July 3, 2025. https://waltontrust.org/en/biography
35. Van Durme, Deborah. “Edith Sitwell’s Carnivalesque Song: The Hybrid Music of Façade.” Mosaic 41, no. 2 (2008): 93-111, https://interlude.hk/composers-and-poets-william-walton- and-edith-sitwell-facade-an-entertainment/
36. Wulf, Christoph. “The Movement of Repetition: Incorporation through Mimetic, Ritual and Imaginative Movements.” Gestalt Theory 42, no. 2 (2020): 87-100.