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

Year 2025, Issue: 9, 245 - 264, 23.10.2025

Tuğba Karabulut

https://doi.org/10.64957/nesir.1802947

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.

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