Poetics of the City: Urban Characters and Images in Arthur Symons’s Poems

Öz

This study dealt with the representations of the city along with characters and images in Arthur Symons’s (1865-1945) selected poems. Symons was a significant poet of English fin de siécle period with his poems and literary works. He developed the inheritance he got from the Victorian verse and paved the way to modernism. Therefore, he became one of the key figures of modernism by means of his treatment of city life in his poems, for example, he employed certain places and locations from music halls to brothels, graveyards to prisons. As for the critical framework, Henri Lefebvre’s space theory was applied in this paper because he explored space from a social perspective which rendered scholars to concentrate on the city with all its components as well. This paper aimed at revealing the relationship between the city and poetry by analysing the urban elements in Symons’s poems with regard to Lefebvre’s theory.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Arthur Symons
• Urban Space
• City
• Poetry
• Fin de Siécle

Şehrin Poetikası: Arthur Symons Şiirlerinde Kentsel Karakterler ve İmgeler

Öz

Bu çalışmada Arthur Symons (1865-1945)’ın seçili şiirlerinde karakterleri ve imgeleriyle şehrin temsili incelenmiştir. Symons şiirleriyle ve edebi çalışmalarıyla İngiliz fin de siécle döneminin önemli bir şairidir. Viktorya döneminin sonu ile Edwardiyan dönemi arasında kalan fin de siécle dönemi İngiliz tarihinde kendine özgü bir dönem olarak kabul edilebilir. Symons Viktorya dönemi şiirinde devraldığı mirasın üzerine koyarak Modernist edebiyata giden yolun önünü açmıştır. Dolayısıyla şiirlerindeki şehir hayatını ele alış biçimiyle Modernist edebiyatın kilit isimlerinden biri olmuştur, örneğin, müzikholden geneleve, mezarlıklardan hapishanelere kadar uzanan pek çok yeri ve mekânı şiirinde kullanmıştır. Kullandığı mekânsal imgeler bağlamında bakıldığında Symons fin de siécle döneminin şiirini biçimlendiren temel şairlerden biri olarak belirir. Çalışmanın teorik altyapısı için Henri Lefebvre’in mekân teorisi kullanılmıştır çünkü Lefebvre mekânı sosyal bir bakış açısından değerlendirmiştir; bu da pek çok akademisyenin şehri tüm elemanlarıyla incelemelerine olanak sağlamıştır. Bu çalışma, Lefebvre’nin mekân teorisini uygulayarak Symons’ın şiirlerindeki kentsel unsurları analiz ederek kent ve şiir arasındaki ilişkiyi ortaya koymayı amaçlamaktadır

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Arthur Symons
• Kentsel Mekân
• Şehir
• Şiir
• Fin de Siecle

Kaynakça

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