Personal and Cultural Identity in Modern Poetry

Mahmut Deniz

25th May, 2009

Personal and Cultural Identity in Modern Poetry

Throughout the history, many writers wrote many works which were meant to protect and preserve their own culture and identity and at the same time, show the process of changing in self-identity. With their works, they tried to give the process of identity fragmentation to show how one’s country, language and thus identity are transformed or assimilated by others’. Poets such as; Tom Leonard, Tony Harrison and Seamus Heaney in their works, respectively, Unrelated Incidents, Them & [uz] and Digging give us an important picture of cultural and personal identity and their change. These poets: Leonard from Scotland, Harrison from Leeds (Northern England) and Heaney from Ireland, wrote their poems reflecting their own identity and culture on their works, so their being from different region from England or its accent have a great influence on what they wrote and what their intention was in writing their poems. Heaney’s poem, focusing on his family and homeland, gives us a fragmented culture and thus fragmented identity of Heaney, Leonard, by writing his poem in “Glaswegian” accent, which is considered to be not valid by standard English, exhibits the cultural discrimination by English and, similarly, Harrison’ use of his accent in his poem bringing him into an inferior or lower class position   thus, of course an uncertainty of self identity in a high class society. In my essay, I will focus on the cultural and personal identities and their reflection on the poems, Digging, Unrelated Incidents and Them & [uz].

Concerning the language and its accent, Unrelated Incidents and Them & [uz], reflect the poets’ personal and cultural identity through use of their own accents. The poems are written in a different accent from British accent, and show the reaction of British society towards the way they speak. The words used in the poem are mostly colloquial and slang as it is a daily speech language, the words such as: “wia, wahnt, wanne, trooth” respectively, “with a, want, one of and truth” are the words used in Glaswegian accent. In Unrelated Incidents, the poem is given as reported speech by a “Glaswegian” speaker who has been listening to the news and tells his interpretation of what it says to him. There is a special term mentioned in the poem as BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) which broadcasting the news in Glaswegian accent.

In Unrelated Incidents, the use of BBC is intentional, as BBC, which uses so called official correct version of English, tries to insult the accent spoken by Scotts, because their accent is not understandable, proper and acceptable, thus, they should “belt up” or speak proper English, “

“…this
            is ma trooth
            yooz doant no
            thi trooth
            yirsellz cawz
            yi canny talk
            right. this is
            the six a clock
            nyooz. belt up”

Scottish culture which also changes their accent is somewhat not accepted by British. Leonard himself is from Glasgow and the accent he uses here is part of his identity. The way he speaks cannot be questioned, because it is not the matter of true version or wrong version of language, it is a matter of personal and cultural approach to the language. Accepting other culture’s values just because it is proper or accepted, or simply, to let you feel in a better position or live in a better position is not the correct way of approaching to the matter, as what matters is that human is human, and accent does not determine the quality or value of a person.

Just like in Unrelated Incidents, the poem Them and [uz] exhibits the prejudice of British society. His language is again Scottish accent, and he angrily criticizes the British society. In the first part of the poem, at university Harrison is insulted by his history tutor due to his bad pronunciation of Keats’ “Ode to a Nightingale”. He starts to pronounce but as soon as he starts to pronounce only “4 words”, his accent is mocked as barbaric, and they want him to pronounce it properly which should be in the same way as RP (Received Pronunciation). The society wants him to pronounce the poem in proper way, because only then he can be accepted as a part of British society and high culture, which actually requires him to reject his own culture, working class background and identity and transform into one of them. To support his being mocked because of his background and identity, he gives the example of the role given to him in university: “I played the Drunken Porter in Macbeth” he acts in a minor and comic scene in a role of “Drunken Porter” which is seen suitable for his background as a lower class character. However, he furiously says: “All poetry (even Cockney Keats?) you see / ‘s been dubbed by [As] into RP” that’s to say; all poetry, even Keats who is from lower class have RP, but normally they would not have been RP speakers, and this shows us an obvious discrimination between British and Scottish people. His line: “your speech is in the hands of receivers.” Which means you are under the control of high class listeners, thus their judgment of a low class person would be negative. However, he finally accepts as his speech is like a trap for him because his speech puts him into a situation where he cannot escape, then submits the authority of higher class by respecting their values as he says: “I doffed my flat” and “…spit out…E-nun-ci-ate!”

Making him to succumb the authority and change his speech means making him reject his own accent, that’s to say, identity, which is the only way for Harrison to have access into a higher class society and be one of them. The second part of the poem contrast with the first part, which may be interpreted also as the change of Harrison in an elite and educated society into someone else. As we see in the second part of the poem, he uses “RIP” (Rest in Peace) for himself which stems from the British society and its influential power on person’s identity and culture by force. He uses the word “RIP” because his identity or his own accent is part of his life and losing these values means death for him. However, the use of “I am Tony Harrison no longer you!” after all those happened, may be interpreted as he is no longer any of those elite and educated society or he is actually no longer himself because of the same society. Former interpenetration would conflict with his idea as the second part is the part where Harrison is death, so is his personal identity. Thus, the interpretation can be the latter as he is actually one of them but no longer the real Harrison, as the “RIP” actually goes for “T.W” the name he was called, but not to Tony Harrison. Thus the name Tony Harrison can be said his name after his defeat by the British society. Besides, his mentioning about “The Times” is that he claims that his name is changed according to RP and British culture and values as he is called as Anthony in a polite way, but not Tony. As a result, throughout the poem, we witness Harrison fight for his identity but no matter how much he wants to break away and fight for his value, he cannot do it, as either he may live as the old uneducated Harrison or live as the one educated but rejected his identity to have the access into this society and develop.       

The poem Digging by Heaney, is written in a standard English, but the poem has many terms that is peculiar to Irish peasants, thus his own identity. In poem, “potatoes” and “peat”, for instance, are traditional mainstays of Irish peasants’ cultural and rural agrarian lifestyle. Heaney thinks of Irish identity as he digs for his cultural, historical root, because his poem is about his past, that’s to say, his ancestors’ time “My father, digging. I look down”. He is actually digging in his poem into his personal history but also rational, cultural history, as he compares his “pen” to “spade”. As the poem progress, we witness that the poem moves from Heaney’s past to the present day, to his position. His ancestors were digging with “spade”, but he will dig with his “pen”.  

Heaney’s father and grandfather are representatives of a traditional Irish culture and lifestyle. Contraction in the poem, as it returns to the present day of educated poet, suggests that there has been a decline from past culture to present day. As the time passes, the old method of making money through physical labor is replaced by modern methods, that’s, “spade” is replaced by “pen”.  However, he still dreams about the times that his grandfather lived as Irish which can be interpreted he thinks of his own past as an Irish, however, he realizes that he cannot do what his ancestors did with spade, but he suggests doing it with his pen as he says: “I will dig with it.” And by using the word “gun” in the first line, he defends his traditional Irish identity. There is a fragmentation and uncertainty, because the poem does not remain in the past but moves to his current position. He protects and defends his identity with his “gun”, but at the same time, he knows that he is not the one to use the “spade”.

In conclusion, the poems Unrelated Incidents and Them & [uz] with their accents and Digging with its metaphorical meaning and poetic style, reveal poets’ desire to defend and live their real identity. Heaney, Leonard and Harrison are the poets whose identity is fragmented, however, their effort to protect and write about their root actually stems from their being educated as poets, and they use their pen to defend their identity, in brief, as Heaney says “Between my finger and my thumb / The squat pen rests; as snug as a gun.”