Research Article

Clash of Past and Present: Production of Historical and Representational Spaces in Oscar Wilde’s Poetry

Number: 43 June 15, 2020
TR EN

Clash of Past and Present: Production of Historical and Representational Spaces in Oscar Wilde’s Poetry

Abstract

This study aims to determine the function of space and how it is depicted in Oscar Wilde's (1854-1900) selected poems. Wilde is one of the important literary and cultural figures of the Victorian era. He criticized the traditional moral codes and values of the Victorian era in which he was born and rejected many Victorian poetic aspects. Wilde used characters and places of ancient Greek mythology in his poems and developed a poetic sensitivity that focused on the real places and characters of the city. The brothel, the prison and the streets of London are some of the places that he used in his poems. Within this framework, it can be said that Wilde is one of the leading poets who shaped the fin de siècle poetry. In this study, French thinker Henri Lefebvre’s (1901-1991) theory of space is applied to discuss the function of space in Wilde’s poetry. Lefebvre's book The Production of Space, published in 1974, was influential in the second half of the twentieth century as it examined the historical development of the concept of space and evaluated it politically. The analysis of the poems from Lefebvre’s perspective will reveal Wilde's use of space in relation to the conflict between past and present, and the attitude of the individual who wants to escape from society.

Keywords

References

  1. Bach, S., & Degenring, F. (2015). From Shakespearean nights to light pollution: (Artificial) Light in anglophone literature. In Josiane Meier et al (Eds.), Urban lighting, light pollution and society (pp. 46-65). New York: Routledge.
  2. Beckson, K., & Fong, B. (2004). Wilde as poet. In Peter Raby (Ed.), The Cambridge companion to Oscar Wilde (pp. 57-68). New York: Cambridge UP.
  3. Buckley, J. H. (1990). Echo and artifice: The poetry of Oscar Wilde. Victorian poetry, 28(3/4), 19-31.
  4. Cohen, A. (2007). Mythic landscapes of Greece. In Roger Woodard (Ed.) The Cambridge companion to Greek mythology (pp. 305-330). New York: Cambridge UP.
  5. Ellmann, R. (1988). Oscar Wilde. New York: Vintage Books.
  6. Highet, G. (1949). The classical tradition: Greek and Roman influences on Western literature. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  7. Lefebvre, H. (1991). The production of space. (Donald Nicholson-Smith, Trans.). Oxford: Blackwell.
  8. Lefebvre, H. (2000). Writings on cities. (Eleonore Kofman and Elizabeth Lebas, Trans.). Malden: Blackwell.

Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

Creative Arts and Writing

Journal Section

Research Article

Authors

Emre Çakar
Türkiye

Publication Date

June 15, 2020

Submission Date

November 13, 2019

Acceptance Date

March 30, 2020

Published in Issue

Year 2020 Number: 43

APA
Çakar, E. (2020). Clash of Past and Present: Production of Historical and Representational Spaces in Oscar Wilde’s Poetry. Selçuk Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, 43, 99-110. https://doi.org/10.21497/sefad.755796
AMA
1.Çakar E. Clash of Past and Present: Production of Historical and Representational Spaces in Oscar Wilde’s Poetry. SEFAD. 2020;(43):99-110. doi:10.21497/sefad.755796
Chicago
Çakar, Emre. 2020. “Clash of Past and Present: Production of Historical and Representational Spaces in Oscar Wilde’s Poetry”. Selçuk Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, nos. 43: 99-110. https://doi.org/10.21497/sefad.755796.
EndNote
Çakar E (June 1, 2020) Clash of Past and Present: Production of Historical and Representational Spaces in Oscar Wilde’s Poetry. Selçuk Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 43 99–110.
IEEE
[1]E. Çakar, “Clash of Past and Present: Production of Historical and Representational Spaces in Oscar Wilde’s Poetry”, SEFAD, no. 43, pp. 99–110, June 2020, doi: 10.21497/sefad.755796.
ISNAD
Çakar, Emre. “Clash of Past and Present: Production of Historical and Representational Spaces in Oscar Wilde’s Poetry”. Selçuk Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi. 43 (June 1, 2020): 99-110. https://doi.org/10.21497/sefad.755796.
JAMA
1.Çakar E. Clash of Past and Present: Production of Historical and Representational Spaces in Oscar Wilde’s Poetry. SEFAD. 2020;:99–110.
MLA
Çakar, Emre. “Clash of Past and Present: Production of Historical and Representational Spaces in Oscar Wilde’s Poetry”. Selçuk Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, no. 43, June 2020, pp. 99-110, doi:10.21497/sefad.755796.
Vancouver
1.Emre Çakar. Clash of Past and Present: Production of Historical and Representational Spaces in Oscar Wilde’s Poetry. SEFAD. 2020 Jun. 1;(43):99-110. doi:10.21497/sefad.755796

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