Dream-like Narration and Imagery in David Gascoyne’s Surrealist Poetry: “And the Seventh Dream is the Dream of Isis”

Yıl 2025, Cilt: 29 Sayı: 4, 1 - 18

Tuğba Karabulut

https://doi.org/10.53487/atasobed.1668677

Öz

The centenary year of 2024 marked a milestone for Surrealism, one of the 20th century’s most
influential movements, initiated by André Breton’s Surrealist Manifesto in 1924. David
Gascoyne’s “And the Seventh Dream is the Dream of Isis” (1933) is considered the first surrealist
poem in English. It employs dream-like narration and imagery to reflect Surrealist ideas. The use
of dream-like motifs, and the juxtaposition of the real and unreal, the arcane and modern, the
religious and obscene, and the natural and bewildering, creates a surrealist effect in the poem.
Its disjointed imagery blurs the boundaries between dream and reality while reflecting the
devastating effects of World War I and the epidemics prevalent at that time on individuals and
society. In this way, Gascoyne aims to awaken the modern individual’s unconscious, emphasising
the impact of this movement that emerged between the World Wars. Gascoyne positions the
surrealist poet as a visionary capable of uncovering hidden truths within the depths of the
unconscious and invites the reader to explore it. The poem also incorporates female
representations, such as mother, priestess, queen, virgin, and Isis, the Egyptian goddess, to
portray the feminine unconscious. This article argues that the unconscious, embodied by the
feminine, is both destructive and transformative. Drawing on the theories of Breton and Freud
and through mythological and feminist analyses, this study explores how Gascoyne’s narrator
constructs a disorienting yet deeply symbolic surrealist narrative. Thus, it aims to revitalize the
surrealist movement, and underscore its lasting impact, both on its 101st anniversary and
beyond.

Anahtar Kelimeler

David Gascoyne , surrealist poetry , dream-like narration and imagery , the unconscious

David Gascoyne’un Sürrealist Şiirinde Rüya Benzeri Anlatım ve İmgeleme: “Ve Yedinci Rüya İsis’in Rüyasıdır”

Öz

2024 yılı, 20. yüzyılın en etkili hareketlerinden biri olan ve 1924’te André Breton’ın Sürrealist
Manifesto’su ile başlatılan sürrealizm hareketinin yüzüncü yılı olarak bir dönüm noktasıydı.
David Gascoyne’ın “Ve Yedinci Rüya İsis’in Rüyasıdır” (1933) adlı eseri, İngilizce yazılmış ilk
sürrealist şiir olarak kabul edilir. Bu şiir, sürrealist fikirleri yansıtmak amacıyla rüya benzeri
anlatım ve imgeler kullanır. Rüya benzeri motiflerin kullanımı ve gerçek ile gerçek dışı, kadim
ile modern, dini ile müstehcen, doğal ile şaşırtıcı olanın karşıtlıklarının yan yana getirilmesi,
şiirde sürrealist bir etki yaratır. Parçalanmış imgeler, rüya ve gerçek arasındaki sınırları
bulanıklaştırırken, I. Dünya Savaşı ve dönemin salgın hastalıklarının bireyler ve toplum
üzerindeki yıkıcı etkilerini yansıtır. Bu şekilde, Gascoyne, modern bireyin bilinç dışını
uyandırmayı ve dünya savaşları arasında ortaya çıkan bu avangart hareketin etkisini
vurgulamayı amaçlar. Gascoyne, sürrealist şairi, bilinç dışının derinliklerindeki gizli gerçekleri
ortaya çıkarabilen öngörülü biri olarak konumlandırır ve okuyucuyu da bilinç dışını keşfetmeye
davet eder. Bu şiir, aynı zamanda dişil bilinç dışını betimlemek için anne, rahibe, kraliçe, bakire
ve Mısır tanrıçası İsis gibi kadın temsillerini de içerir. Bu makale, dişil bilinç dışının
bedenselleşmesinin hem yıkıcı hem de dönüştürücü olduğunu savunur. Breton ve Freud’un
teorileri ve mitolojik ve feminist analizlerden yararlanarak, bu çalışma, Gascoyne’un
anlatıcısının, bu karmaşık ancak derin sürrealist anlatısını nasıl oluşturduğunu ele alır. Böylece,
bu çalışma, sürrealist hareketi yeniden canlandırmayı ve onun kalıcı etkisini 101. yıl
dönümünde ve sonrasında vurgulamayı amaçlar.

Anahtar Kelimeler

David Gascoyne , surrealist şiir , rüya benzeri anlatım ve imgeleme , bilinç dışı

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