Oldal 29 [29]
Orientation: Approaches to Place in Northern Irish Poetry | 27
relationship between the two that shapes the representation of place in the
poetry. Heaney defends the necessary presence of that mental other by insist¬
ing on its role as an aesthetic principle and not a tactics of evading the actual
as he also acknowledges the political status of the poet.®? His position shows
an understanding of place as being a highly important part of that complex
matrix that Northern Ireland represents, and there is the awareness of the
complexity of the concept of place itself with its spatial and temporal constitu¬
ents. This complexity requires an approach that is capable of demonstrating
a sufficient degree of openness and flexibility for addressing it in addition
to a strong sense of a referential framework that marks the field in which
that addressing and assessment are played out. This leads to active dialogue
with established traditions, involving the revision, refining, readjustment or
eventual rejection of those traditions as the interaction between those two
senses of location is explored. Just as poetry itself requires the simultaneous
presence and interaction of the principles of discipline and flexibility, place in
poetry is also examined, assessed and represented in the active and dynamic
relationship of these two principles.
8 cf. Heaney, “Place and Displacement”, 163-164