Seamus Heaney's early poetry evoked Irish pastoral landscapes and traditions. After eruption of Troubles in 1969, his verse began to be pervaded by complex situation in Northern Ireland. This change, together with poet's increasing focussing on his symbolic relationship with Irish land and his preoccupation with sense of lost language, caused his poems to be perceived as symbols of national struggle. However, although Irish history and language are embraced and celebrated by poet, at same time, rather than articulating political idea of literature, Heaney tried to find middle voice that would express both halves of his culture, English and Irish. The poems Broagh and Anahorish, in Wintering Out, originate in Irish language placenames, and more than any other poem in that collection, display Heaney's willingness for reconciliation of two traditions through profound meditation on cultural and linguistic elements of each one. Dante and his belief in attainment of sense of national solidarity through creation of unitary poetic language were fundamental to Heaney's realization of this project. The Irish poet admired Dante's profound attachment to his local culture and to vernacular language, but principally, he praised his ability to transcend those aspects by positioning them in universal framework. In Divine Comedy, medieval poet had imagined the cosmological in provincial by placing constant emphasis on epistemological function of mutually enriching confrontation with other cultures and languages, which is ultimately synonymous with an enrichment and not an adulteration of one's own national (Copley 2005: 12). Heaney shared these same aims, and through allusions to Dante, he could transcend ethnic boundaries and create an increasingly cosmopolitan poetry, as displayed in his collection Electric Light, in which specifics of public and personal history are considered alongside those of world culture. Heaney's all-inclusive poetic development was mainly realized through his several translations of various international authors, including Dante. Through translation Heaney comes into contact with other cultures, and this allows him to better understand his time and himself. In his rendering of Ugolino episode, from Inferno XXXII-XXXIII, Irish poet found metaphors and emblems that he needed for poetic message he wanted to convey (Heaney 1980: 56). Dante's experience is translated into Heaney's own personal and cultural experience, and this enables him to address his local concerns through global framework, extending universal into personal and vice versa. Between two Traditions Both Dante's and Heaney's poetics must be understood within socio-political context in which they originated. Throughout his life, Dante felt sense of in-betweenness with respect to his culture and his language. As poet, he used Latin, which was language of education system. As man, he spoke Tuscan vernacular, which was his natural mother tongue. In his treatise, De Vulgari Eloquentia, Dante championed development of vernacular in literature. As he affirmed, since nothing provides as splendid an ornament as does illustrious vernacular, seems that any writer of poetry should use it (DVE II: i, 2). (1) Being tongue spoken by everyone, vernacular was more suitable language for literature, as made literature available to all. It was maternam locutionem (mother tongue) (DVE I: vi, (2) [1960]), the concrete language of all (Chandler 1966: 17), in contrast to Latin, which was secondary speech, locutio secundaria (DVE I: i, 3 [1960]). Furthermore, Dante believed that common tongue could be a pledge of national unity (Cambon 1969: 28). In thirteenth century, Italy was divided into several states, with each speaking different dialect, and in this fragmentation peoples could not feel strong sense of national identity based on cultural, linguistic, or racial bonds (Pullan 1973: 25). …
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Nov 2, 2024
Dmitrii P Gavra + 1
Open Access
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