Free English Language Dissertations - It Was In Leeds Grammar School When Harrison Began To Withdraw From His
It was in Leeds Grammar School when Harrison began to withdraw from his parents and eliminate his former values. The poet depicts this theme in almost all pieces of his creative work through the really brusque poetic speech. For instance, in The Loiners (1970) that was rewarded with Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, Harrison demonstrates this gap between him and his parents, between his social background and the acquired education. Loiners are native people of Leeds, the place of Harrison’s birth, but simultaneously the poet compares these inhabitants with ‘loners’ (Crucefix, 1997, p.161), people who alienate themselves from education and other aspects of social life. The poems of this collection uncover the feelings of loss and alienation that Harrison experiences because of social ideologies that distance him from close people when he acquires different culture and ways of communication. In fact, Harrison utilises indecent expressions as subcultural pointers that reflect the poet’s desire to bring up the issues of society and culture that trouble him. Tony Harrison realises that his parents will not be able to understand and accept his poetry, but, applying to colloquial speech in his poems, the poet reveals that language can either release or confine a person.
In this regard, Harrison’s refined rhyming verse is based on splendid folk alliterations and dialects, revealing the poet’s attempts to diversify poetic language. The poem Book Ends depicts the inability of a father and a son to talk with each other because of language differences between them. Thus, Harrison uncovers crucial social and political issues beneath his ambiguous and powerful language. As Ellmann and O’Clair (1988) put it, Harrison’s poetry demonstrates the jarring dialects of human behaviour (p.1475). Applying to masterfully chosen words and expressions with the Yorkshire dialect, Harrison’s Book Ends uncovers the issues of existence and changes. For instance, the son remembers the words of his mother who used to claim to his husband and his son that You’re like book ends, the pair of you (Harrison, 1988, p.1480). Such an eloquent expression demonstrates the principal idea of the whole poem; although two close people are similar, they are unable to communicate with each other, because they are separated by their different education, language and way of life. After the death of Harrison’s mother, their separation is aggravated even more, as the son claims, A night you need my company to pass / and she not here to tell us we’re alike! / Your life’s all shattered into smithereens (Harrison, 1988, p.1480).
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