Today's session considered the question:
WHAT ARE THE KEY CONCERNS WITHIN THE POETRY OF TONY HARRISON?
Class discussion, thanks mainly to Ellie and James, was OUTSTANDING. I have tried to shape a potential essay structure based on the content of the class discussion.
- The introduction needs to briefly summarise the key themes being explored by Harrison and why he explores these issues. Harrison is concerned with providing a poetic voice for a class of people often denied a presence within poetry. His poetry deals with identity and culture and how education is used to promote the idea of cultural superiority. An idea that Harrison reacts against in a defiant manner. His poetry also explores the conflict of division within society and the conflict that Harrison himself feels as his education and role as poet seems to alienate him from his own family and culture.
- The first paragraph needs to deal with the significance of FORM in Harrison's work. The poem V uses the iambic quatrain and the 16 line Meredithian Sonnet form in Them and [uz], Working, and Marked With D. The fact that Harrison uses a form of the sonnet that does not conform to the more traditional and more recognisable 14 line Shakespearean Sonnet form is somehow symbolic of his desire to defy convention and accepted notions of literary convention. The quatrain links Harrison's work to the literary traditions of Greece, Shakespeare and canonical works such as Gray's Elegy. How does this use of form link to the content of Harrison's poetry? Why is the quatrain the structure used to amplify the concerns of social division and class disaffection and unemployment in V? Why use the form of classical literature to provide the framework for the content of his poetry? Why use the form associated with canonical poetry to illuminate and consider the nature of post-industrial working-class experience? Students must link Harrison's use of form to meaning. THIS IS A FEATURE THAT STUDENTS MUST COMPREHEND TO ACCESS THE HIGHER GRADES.
- The next paragraph needs to consider how Harrison explores the theme of conflict in V. Harrison presents a society that appears fractured ['These Vs are all the versuses of life..the unending violence of US and THEM personified in 1984 by Coal Board MacGregor and the NUM..']. He seems to present a poem that amplifies a sense of outrage with the divisive state of Britain in the late twentieth century. STUDENTS NEED TO SHOW ME PRECISE TEXTUAL REFERENCE TO ILLUSTRATE HARRISON'S OPINION AND POETIC AIM. WHAT IS THE NATURE OF HIS PROTEST? Harrison desires disaffected unemployed youth, symbolised in the figure of the 'skin', to be given a sense of hope. In Gray's Elegy, this canonical poem presents a pastoral representation of a pre-industrial England that is not having to deal with the blight of unemployment, and 'useful toil' is at the heart of the poem. This is a poem rich with the idea that work provides dignity and purpose for people denied 'the pomp of power.' WHY DOES HARRISON ALLUDE TO THE CONTENT OF THE ELEGY? The skin in V states that ' ..ave got about as much scope to aspire above the shit they're dumped in, cunt, as coal aspires to be chucked on t'fucking fire.....Me I'll croak doing t'same nowt ah do now as a kid.' Gray refers to 'Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire' and figures who '..no more the blazing hearth shall burn' and these images of light and fire are present in V as Harrison suggests that unemployed youth, just like the coal beneath the graveyard and the coal at the centre of the mining strike, need a spark to ignite potential. V is littered with the imagery of coal and this is a key symbol that links to the theme of human potential. SHOW ME YOU WERE LISTENING. Harrison clearly wants the 'skin' to move beyond his disaffection and feel that his existence has value. WE HAVE BEEN DISCUSSING V FOR THREE SESSIONS...NOW IS THE TIME TO SHOW ME YOU WERE LISTENING TO THE CLASS COMMENTARY....'For vast, slow, coal-creating forces that hew the body's seams to get the soul..'
- The next paragraph needs to deal with the internal conflict that the narrative voice [We have to be careful about assuming the narrative voice is Harrison] experiences due to his selective grammar school education having distanced him from the working-class culture of his familial origins in Leeds. His role as a poet clearly causes him some distress as the skin is dismissive of the value of poetry: 'This pen is all I have of magic wand...They'll chisel fucking poet when they do you and that, yer cunt, 's a crude four-letter word.. a book yer stupid cunt 's not worth a fuck..Don't talk to me of fucking representing the class yer were born into any more..it's not poetry we need in this class war...Who needs yer fucking poufy words..' The cultural alienation that the narrative voice explores reflects the alienation his father experiences in Leeds as his local community is transformed into an environment that he struggles to comprehend. It is quite ironic that the only link with his father is a shared sense of cultural alienation. V is a poem within which the narrative voice questions his purpose and considers why he actually bothers writing poetry. The epitaph at the conclusion of V confirms the narrator's view that he writes poetry to present the experience of the working-class people of Leeds to a poetic audience that may not be familiar with the cultural experience explored within Harrison's poetry. The poem concludes with the narrator stating that 'poems can grow from [beat you to it!] SHIT' and urges the figure visiting his grave to look at the city of Leeds as the people in this city are his poetic inspiration. Harrison recognises that his work may be futile but he will continue to provide a poetic presence for people who may not themselves view value in poetry. WHY DOES HE BOTHER WRITING POETRY? THIS CONFLICT IS A CRUCIAL ELEMENT WITHIN HARRISON'S WORK. Remember...in National Trust the narrative voice states that 'the tongueless man gets his land took.'
- The conclusion is ALL YOURS! Try and use a critical quote to weave into your conclusion. Is this poetry valuable? Offer a personal reaction to his work. Is he relevant? Is he artistic? Crude? Creative? Unique? Synthesise my resources. The Radio Four resource below is SUPERB. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oW49WJ0F2HM&t=130s
HOMEWORK: Complete the HARRISON essay and send it to me before the Friday of next week. READ DICKENS and HARRISON. In the Thursday session I will be comparing both texts.
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