William Blake’in “London” Adlı Şiiri: Güç ve Otoriteye Karşı Bir Direnç

Yıl 2014, Cilt: 54 Sayı: 1, 117 - 148, 01.01.2014

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Öz

Bu çalışmada amaç William Blake’in “London” adlı şiirini Yeni Tarihselcilik bağlamında okumaktır. Metne böyle bir yaklaşım şiiri tarihselleştirmek, başka bir deyişle, şiiri tarihi gelişimin bir ürünü olarak ve böylece şiiri, içinde yazıldığı dönemde yaşayan yoksul ve çaresiz halkın sosyal durumunu yansıtan bir metin olarak yorumlamamızı sağlayacaktır. Bundan dolayı çalışmada bağlamlama önemli bir yer teşkil etmektedir. Bu amaçla çalışmada şiir sosyal ve tarihsel bağlam içine konmakta ve Blake’in şiire koyduğu imgelerin anlamları tartışılmakta ve böylece şiirin yazıldığı tarihsel dönemde yaygın olan politikalar ile bunların şiirdeki yansımaları çalışılmaktadır. Bu çalışmada vurgu Blake’in dönemde hâkim olan sosyal düzeni sorgulaması ve eleştirmesi üzerinedir. Şiirde Blake’in ruhsal ve insani değerleri göz ardı eden ve insanı özgürleştirmekten ziyade köleleştiren bilimsel ve teknolojik düşünme yöntemlerinin olası tehlikelerini görerek, Aydınlanma Çağı’nın bilimsel düşünüş tarzına, başka bir deyişle modern akılcılığa da karşı olduğu gözlenmiştir. Şiirde Blake’in temelde üç önemli kuruma karşı olduğu gözlenmiştir. Bunlar hükümet, monarşi ve Kilisedir. Blake bu kurumlara yönelik eleştirisini dönemden seçtiği üç figürü genelleştirerek yapmaktadır. Bunlar ‘baca süpürücüsü’, ‘asker’ ve ‘fahişe’dir. Blake şiirinde, Londra’yı çarpık bir sosyal sistem içinde güç ve otoritenin baskısına boyun eğmeye maruz kalan Londra halkının olduğu bir şehir olarak resmetmektedir. Çalışmada ayrıca Blake’in “London” adlı şiirinde kendini bu kişilerden dolayısıyla onların temsil ettiği gruplardan ayrı tutarak onları nesnelleştirmediği ve ötekileştirmediği, aksine yönetim, kraliyet ve Kilise tarafından fakirleştirilenlerin ve ötekileştirilen dışlanan ve sömürülenlerin sesi olduğu sonucuna varılmıştır. Böylece bu çalışma sonuç olarak, Blake’in “London” adlı şiirinin politik ve sosyal bir protesto olduğunu ve yazıldığı dönemin egemen güçlerine karşı duran bir metin olduğunu göstermektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

William Blake, London, Şiir, Yeni Tarihselcilik, Toplumsal Eleştiri, Baca Süpürücüsü, Otorite, Egemen Güçler, İktidara Karşı Direnç

William Blake’s “London”: A Resistance to Power and Authority

Öz

In this study the aim is to read William Blake’s “London” in a new historicist perspective. The New Historicist approach to text would enable us to historicize the poem, in other words, to interpret it as a product of historical development and thus as a text mirroring the social conditions of the miserable and the wretched living in the time in which the poem was written. To this end, in the study, the poem has been put in its social and historical contexts and the meanings of the images which Blake put in the poem have been discussed, and thus the politics prevailing in the period in which the poem was written and their reflections in the poem have been studied. Therefore contextualization is taking a great part in the study. The emphasis in the essay is on Blake’s criticism of the prevalent social order. It has also been observed that Blake seeing the potential dangers in the overreliance of scientific and technological methods of thought – methods neglecting spiritual and humanistic values and enslaving rather than liberating man – opposes scientific way of thinking of the ‘Age of Enlightenment’, that is, Enlightenment rationality. In the poem Blake basically protests against three major institutions: the government, the monarchy and the Church. He makes his criticism of these institutions through generalization of three main figures in the period. These are ‘the chimney sweeper’, ‘soldier’ and ‘harlot’. Thus Blake depicts London, in the poem, as a city in which Londoners are exposed to the subjugation of the authority and power in, what he saw as, a corrupted social system. In the study, it has been concluded that Blake in “London” does not objectify these figures and the groups they represent and does not make them the ‘Other’ because he does not detach himself from them; on the contrary, he becomes the voice of the marginalized and the exploited who are impoverished and made the ‘Other’ by the administration, monarchy and the Church. The study also concludes that Blake’s “London” is a poem of political and social protest and a text which resists the hegemonic forces of the time in which it was written.

Anahtar Kelimeler

William Blake, London, Poetry, New Historicism, Social Criticism, The Chimney Sweeper, Authority, Hegemonic Forces, Resistance to Power

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