British National Identity, Topicality and Tradition in the Poetry of Simon Armitage
British National Identity, Topicality and Tradition in the Poetry of Simon Armitage
Yazar: Coussens, Catherine
Dergi: Cankaya University Journal of Arts and Sciences, Vol. 1 No. 9, 2014
Anahtar kelimeler: British national identity,popularity,public poetry,tradition,conflict,Millennium,contemporary

This paper explores the treatment of British national identity, topicality and tradition in the work ofSimon Armitage, alongside broader issues concerning contemporary public poetry in Britain. Armitage,with Carol Ann Duffy, is a major candidate for the position of Poet Laureate in 2009. Both poets haveexplored constructions of national identity in their work, but it is Armitage who has located himself moreassertively within the arena of public, national poetry. Despite his focus on modern life-styles anddiscourses, and deployment of the mass media to disseminate his poetry into non-literary public spaces,Armitage is particularly sensitive to literary and cultural tradition. Within his work, which is deliberatelyaccessible and contemporary, tradition is always at play in terms of allusion, response and interrogation. Inthis sense, his poetry both occupies and challenges notions of canonicity and traditional conceptions ofBritish national identity. His recent focus on the theme of conflict also works to expose the inadequacy ofmainstream assertions of continuity and meaning when constructing national identity. Armitage placesBritishness and British literature within a broader ‘Millennial’ schema of eclipse, destruction andregeneration. For Armitage the recurrence of the theme of conflict throughout literary history both connectsthe literature of the present day with that of the past and emphasises the future’s instability and eternal lackof resolution. Therefore, Armitage’s modern translations of canonical texts like the Odyssey and Sir Gawainand the Green Knight foreground the fact that disharmony and conflict are, and have always been, nationalpreoccupations.

This paper explores the treatment of British national identity, topicality and tradition in the work ofSimon Armitage, alongside broader issues concerning contemporary public poetry in Britain. Armitage,with Carol Ann Duffy, is a major candidate for the position of Poet Laureate in 2009. Both poets haveexplored constructions of national identity in their work, but it is Armitage who has located himself moreassertively within the arena of public, national poetry. Despite his focus on modern life-styles anddiscourses, and deployment of the mass media to disseminate his poetry into non-literary public spaces,Armitage is particularly sensitive to literary and cultural tradition. Within his work, which is deliberatelyaccessible and contemporary, tradition is always at play in terms of allusion, response and interrogation. Inthis sense, his poetry both occupies and challenges notions of canonicity and traditional conceptions ofBritish national identity. His recent focus on the theme of conflict also works to expose the inadequacy ofmainstream assertions of continuity and meaning when constructing national identity. Armitage placesBritishness and British literature within a broader ‘Millennial’ schema of eclipse, destruction andregeneration. For Armitage the recurrence of the theme of conflict throughout literary history both connectsthe literature of the present day with that of the past and emphasises the future’s instability and eternal lackof resolution. Therefore, Armitage’s modern translations of canonical texts like the Odyssey and Sir Gawainand the Green Knight foreground the fact that disharmony and conflict are, and have always been, nationalpreoccupations.