Poetry and national identity in Cyprus and Scotland

Thesis

This thesis aims to engage with the poetry of Scotland and Greek-speaking Cyprus, and examine the relationship between poetry defined as high culture and articulations of national identity in the two places. Scotland and Cyprus share characteristics that make the establishment of a single, coherent national identity with the appearance of permanence challenging, including their relationships with culturally dominant neighbours, competition between local and official languages, and the insecurity of their status as nations.

Both Scotland and Cyprus have historically had hybrid identities; in Scotland, British identity is made problematic by England's cultural dominance, while in Cyprus Greek-speakers have a conflicted relationship with Greece. This is made more complex by the fact that Scotland's political union with England may be ending, while Cyprus is divided in half as a result of tensions between Christian and Muslim populations and the unsubtle past involvement of Greece and Turkey in the island's affairs. This thesis aims to locate trends of national identity through the analysis of poetry and its reception in three distinct contexts. Part 1 analyses the evolution of Scottish and Greek-speaking Cypriot 'national character' through the poetry of national poets Robert Burns and Vasilis Michailidis, and the poets Walter Scott and Dimitris Lipertis.

Part 2 explores the effects of modernity on the expression of national identities in literature through the lens of the Modernist movement, and how this was adopted and modified in Scotland and Cyprus. This is discussed with reference to three poets, Hugh MacDiarmid, Kostas Montis and Edwin Morgan, and their treatment of the national past and search for a national literary language. Finally, Part 3 analyses deliberate engagements of poets with national identity and issues of national importance, using Seamus Heaney's idea of 'adequate' poetry as a guide. Two functions of poetry are considered: the role it can play in transforming the landscape into the national homeland, and its potential to address communal trauma, and transform it into a unifying experience.

Authors: Demosthenous, A

• Publication date: 2014
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: kyriakos charalambides; robert crawford; nationalism; edwin morgan; national identity; hugh macdiarmid; kyriakos charalampides; small literatures; poetry; robert burns; adequate poetry; scotland; cyprus
• Subjects: Modern Britain and Europe; Hellenic languages; Landscape; National identity; English Language and Literature; Medieval and Modern Greek; Literatures of other languages