WHEN MAGIC IS REPLACED WITH SCIENCE: SCIENCE POEMS OF DAVID MORLEY

Yıl 2018, Cilt: 58 Sayı: 1, 690 - 709, 01.01.2018

Merve Sarı

Öz

In his seminal work, The Golden Bough 1890 , Scottish anthropologist James Frazer argues that the phases of belief systems in different parts of the world can be divided into three. For him, the Age of Magic, is replaced by the Age of Religion which is then replaced by the Age of Science. Recent interests in contemporary British poetry confirm Frazer’s prediction. Due to postmodernism, which sidelined mainstream attitudes in poetry, and the rising influence of science and technology on the society, science poetry came into being in the latter half of the twentieth century Britain with writers like Hugh MacDiarmid, Edwin Morgan, Robert Crawford, W. N. Herbert, Allen Fisher, Peter Redgrove, Lavinia Greenlaw and Pauline Stainer. Anglo-Romani poet David Morley is one of the pioneering figures of British science poetry. Morley’s science poems aim to take science out of the laboratory into the public arena. Trained as a biologist, Morley in his poems underlines how interest in magic has been replaced by science in today’s technological world and emphasises science’s inseparability from contemporary experience. In addition to this, Morley employs the scientific method in writing a number of his poems, such as his field-trip poems, which rely on scientific observation and the acquisition of data. Thus, Morley’s poems can be read as scientific experiments in terms of their methodology and the analogies they raise. For him, technoscientific discourse, progressively invading mankind’s life, is not likely to disappear from the poetic arena, hence its presence is continuously acknowledged in his poems. In this light, this study will analyse British science poetry as represented in David Morley’s poems, which besides underlining the replacement of magic by science, also shows the poet-scientist in action, while collecting data and creating a poem based upon his findings.

Anahtar Kelimeler

James Frazer, Magic, David Morley, Contemporary British Poetry, Science Poetry, Technoscientific Language

BİLİM SİHİRİN YERİNİ ALINCA: DAVID MORLEY'İN BİLİM ŞİİRLERİ

Öz

Ufuk açıcı The Golden Bough 1890 “Altın Dal” adlı eserinde, İskoç antropolojist James Frazer, dünyanın farklı yerlerindeki inanç sistemlerinin üç aşamaya ayrılabileceğini iddia eder. Frazer’a göre, Sihir Çağı, Din Çağı’yla, bu ise Bilim Çağı’yla yer değiştirmiştir. Çağdaş İngiliz şiirindeki yeni eğilimler Frazer’ın öngörüsünü destekler. David Morley İngiliz bilim şiirinin öncü isimlerinden biridir. Ana akım yaklaşımları şiirde kenara iten postmodernizm ile bilim ve teknolojinin toplum üzerinde giderek artan etkileri sonucu bilim şiiri, yirminci yüzyılın ikinci yarısında İngiltere’de Hugh MacDiarmid, Edwin Morgan, Robert Crawford, W. N. Herbert, Allen Fisher, Peter Redgrove, Lavinia Greenlaw ve Pauline Stainer gibi yazarlarla ortaya çıkmıştır. Anglo-Roman şair David Morley, İngiliz bilim şiirinin öncülerindendir. Morley’nin bilim şiirleri, bilimi laboratuvardan dışarı çıkarıp halka açmayı amaçlar. Bir biyolog olarak eğitim görmüş olan, Morley şiirlerinde büyüye karşı var olmuş olan ilginin günümüzün teknolojik dünyasında nasıl da bilimle yer değiştirdiğinin altını çizer ve bilimin güncel deneyimden ayrılmazlığını vurgular. Buna ek olarak, Morley, bilimsel gözlem ve veri toplamaya dayalı birçok şiirinin yazımında, arazi gezisi şiirleri gibi, bilimsel metodu kullanır. Bu nedenle Morley’nin şiirleri, metodolojileri ve kurdukları analojiler bakımından bilimsel deneyler olarak okunabilir. Morley’e göre, giderek insanların hayatını istila eden teknobilimsel söylem şiirsel alandan büyük ihtimalle kaybolmayacaktır ve işte bu nedenle bu söylemin varlığı şiirlerinde sürekli olarak beyan edilmektedir. Bu bilgiler ışığında, bu çalışmanın amacı İngiliz bilim şiirini, sihrin bilimle yer değiştirişinin altını çizerken şair-bilim insanını veri toplar ve topladığı bu veriler ışığında şiir yazarken iş başında gösteren David Morley’in şiirlerini analiz etmektir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

James Frazer, Sihir, David Morley, Çağdaş İngiliz Şiiri, Bilim Şiiri, Tekno-Bilimsel Dil

Kaynakça

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