AWEJ for Translation & Literary Studies, Volume 5, Number 1. February 2021 Pp.72-81
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awejtls/vol5no1.5
Anachronism in Geoffrey Hill’s “Mercian Hymns”
Nadia Ali Ismael
Department of English,
College of Languages, University of Baghdad
Baghdad, Iraq
Email: nadeaali@colang.uobaghdad.edu.iq
Received: 10/28/2020 Accepted: 1/6/2021 Published: 2/24/2021
Abstract:
As Jeffrey Wainwright (2005) notes, “it is apparent that [Geoffrey] Hill’s poetry has always known history very well indeed” (n.p.). Throughout his works, including the Mercian Hymns, historical events and figures play a central role. When references to the past make their way into literature, the resulting allusions often broaden the work’s depth, increasing not just the richness of the symbolic interpretation but also rooting the work into a multidisciplinary conversation, bringing events from different points along the human timeline into the conversation. When anachronism occurs, the intentionality plays a role in determining the significance not just of the instance but, potentially, the work as a whole. This paper explores how Hill puts anachronism to intentional use in the Mercian Hymns, with an enduring impact on the meanings that emerge for the reader, depending on the reader’s cultural perspective.
Keywords: anachronism, Geoffrey Hill, history, international, memory, multidisciplinary
Cite as: Ismael, N. A. (2021). Anachronism in Geoffrey Hill’s “Mercian Hymns”. Arab World English Journal for Translation & Literary Studies 5 (1) 72-81.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awejtls/vol5no1.5
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