Free English Language Dissertations - The Use Of Language And Colloquial Terminology In Tony Harrison’s Works 2005
THE USE OF LANGUAGE AND COLLOQUIAL TERMINOLOGY IN TONY HARRISON’S WORKS
2005
Introduction
Tony Harrison, one of the most famous contemporary English poets, belongs to those individuals who reject any existing language and literary standards and create their unique approaches to the portrayal of reality and people. Harrison’s style of writing reflects an ambiguity of expression due to the differences in his social environment and the received education. In particular, Harrison demonstrates the tensions between colloquial language that reflects his background and Standard English that he learned at school. Although he seems to reveal the deficiency of colloquial language in his poetry and films, he simultaneously mocks at traditional language rules received in the process of his education. Such a controversy demonstrates Harrison’s inability to combine colloquial language and standard language in his poetry, as he realises the limitations of both literary and spoken languages. The aim of this essay is to analyse Tony Harrison’s use of language and colloquial terminology in his works, investigating in depth such verses as The Loiners, V and A Cold Coming that are especially appropriate for the analysis of Harrison’s poetic style and forms of expression. Descending from Leeds’ working-class society, Harrison managed to finish Leeds Grammar School and graduate from the University of Leeds, where he mastered his knowledge in Language and Classics and formed his new ideologies taken from the writings of such famous philosophers and authors as Hoggart, Milton, Marx and Thompson. Tony Harrison spent several years at a Nigerian University and a Prague University, training students in English language and simultaneously learning regional dialects and Czech language.
Working as a teacher and a scholar, Tony Harrison started to write poetry and published his first poetic collection Earthworks in 1964, followed by The Loiners (1970). Harrison’s poems demonstrate his proletarian background and his constant attempts to transform the traditional poetic forms. The poet utilises the usual sonnet form, implementing certain dialects and colloquial speech that go beyond the norms of Standard English. Harrison’s poetic language is so powerful and unique that he manages to produce verse films on his poems and adapt Greek tragedies for modern theatres. As Richard Eyre (1997) puts it, Poet and playwright are usually seen as mutually opposed roles the poet a solitary figure answerable to no one but his own talent and conscience, the playwright a collaborator, colluding in the pragmatism and expediency of production (p.43). However, Tony Harrison manages to successfully combine both roles and create unforgettable literary pieces of work. According to Rowland (2001), there are clearly thematical and stylistic overlaps between the two genres [plays and poems] in Harrison’s work (p.27).
