Tony Harrison: Exploring Inarticulacy & Word Power

'My upbringing among so-called "inarticulate" people has given me a passion for language that communicates directly and immediately. '

1 In Tony Harrison's 'The School of Eloquence' he explores the various shapes and forms of language, structured according to social interpretations. Harrison was brought up in a working class environment, his father was a baker and his mother was a housewife. However, at the age of eleven he won a scholarship to Leeds Grammar School and went on to study Classics at Leeds University.

Harrison presents the effects of this social clash in 'The School of Eloquence' , in particular the poem 'Them & [uz]', 'We say [us] not [uz], T. W.! ' That shut my trap. / I doffed my flat a's (as in 'flat cap') / my mouth all stuffed with glottals, great / lumps to hawk up and spit out..... E-nun-ci-ate! '

2 Harrison recognises and explores the conflict caused by his having been assimilated into the very middle class society which has exploited the working class and suppressed their speech.

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Harrison also highlights the linguistic oppression of the working class in general, taken from 'National Trust' , 'The dumb go down in history and disappear / and not one gentleman's been brought to book : / Mes den hep tavas a-gollas y dyr. '

3 Here, Harrison points out that without a voice the working class will be ignored and/or left behind. This is a fundamental point in Harrison's poetry and it's through his use of inarticulacy, whether it be physical or metaphoric, that it is most poignant.

 Read about growing up without a father

However, there is much more depth to this, as shown in the poem 'V', the epigraph reads, "My father still reads the dictionary every day. / He says your life depends on your power to master words"

4. The words are those of Arthur Scargill, the outspoken leader of the National Union of Mineworkers who co-ordinated resistance to the pit closures instigated as a challenge to the power of the British unions by Margaret Thatcher

5. Harrison underlines the power of words by combining language and politics to illustrate the struggle of a class whose only means of gaining power is through learning to speak back, and write back.

Within 'V', Harrison focuses on the despairing inarticulacy placed upon the working class, 'The language of this graveyard ranges from / a bit of Latin for a former Mayor / or those who laid their lives down at the Somme, / the hymnal fragments and the gilded prayer, / how people 'fell asleep in the Good Lord', / brief chisellable bits from the good book / and rhymes whatever length they could afford, to CUNT, PISS, SHIT and (mostly) FUCK! '

6 By interpreting the epigraph to the poem we can see that Harrison is highlighting the crushing inevitability of inarticulacy.

The skins in the poem are unable to express themselves other than using crude language. We can see from Arthur Scargill's words that this inability to speak will inevitably lead to the downfall of the working class. Through sympathy, or is it pity? Harrison attempts to reason to a skinhead in the poem, Skin: 'If mi mam's up there, don't want to meet 'er listening to me list mi dirty deeds, and 'ave to pipe up to St fucking Peter ah've been on t'dole all mi life in fucking Leeds! Poet: 'Listen, cunt! ' I said, 'before you start your jeering he reason why I want this in a book 's to give ungrateful cunts like you a hearing! ' Skin: A book, yer stupid cunt, 's not worth a fuck!

7 In this conversation the reader is exposed to the despondency felt by the 'skin' who symbolises the quashed working class. In this poem Harrison examines the skin's position from all angles. On one hand, the reader can sympathise with the 'skin' who is put down by society before he can get up. However, we can relate to Harrison's anger towards the hopeless 'skin' who isn't willing to listen.

The 'skin' won't even attempt to build a voice for himself by learning how to speak and write back, all he can do is daub crude four letter words in an attempt to be heard. In his poems, Harrison deliberately includes the direct speech of the working class people, including his father, taken from 'The Queen's English', ' 'ere tek this un wi' yer to New York / to remind yer 'ow us gaffers used to talk. / It's up your street in't it? Ah'll buy yer that!

8' The use of colloquial language reflects on Harrison's background, in particular the voices he heard growing up.

Harrison's poetry is meant to be read aloud and so the audience is able to pick up the maladroit dialect and grapple with the heavy-handed language which shows the inarticulacy of the working class. The short, hard, harsh language used within the colloquial dialect portrays the indecipherability of the working class. If they cannot be understood how can they be heard? The use of colloquialism in poetry has also been used by other poet's such as 'Cockney Keats' and William Wordsworth who would "water" to rhyme with "matter".

It is through this mastery of words that Harrison is able to establish an identity. Not only for himself but for his material. But when Harrison uses this "working class" dialect is he being inarticulate? In the extract above taken from 'The Queen's English', Harrison is using a dialect taken from his father, a working class man. Someone who isn't as educated as Harrison, this is best observed in 'A Good Read', 'ah sometimes think you read too many books. / ah never 'ad much time for a good read. ' In this particular poem there in as ambiguity concerning Harrison's tone. The aggressive follow-up of 'Good Read! I bet! Your programme at United! / The labels on you whisky or your beer!

10' focuses on Harrison's frustration at the old man's faltering control over his words. Read about growing up without a father

However, the final line of the poem, 'once I'm writing I can't put you down! '

11 hints at an angst ridden endearment Harrison has for his father. With this in mind, it can be concluded that Harrison's use of inarticulate colloquial dialect is a tool he uses to form a bond with his background. and spoke the language I spoke at home. / RIP RP, RIP TW / I'm Tony Harrison no longer you!

12'. Despite blending into a middle class environment it is clear from Harrison's poetry that he does not want to lose touch with his roots and although he criticises the dialect of his family it is through the inarticulacy of his people and his power of words that he is able to connect, and fight for them.

The main focus of inarticulacy in Harrison's poetry is directed at his family, from 'Fire-Eater', 'Dad's eldest brother had a shocking stammer. Dad punctuated sentence ends with but... / Coarser stuff than silk they hauled up grammar / knotted together deep down in their gut.

13' Harrison shows a distaste for his father and uncle's inadequacy over speech. The constant reference to mouths, spitting, stuttering and chewing throughout 'The School of Eloquence' signifies Harrison's repulsion to the inarticulate voice. Therefore, is Harrison suggesting his own oral and literary skills have developed because of or in spite of his linguistic inheritance?

It is clear from the previous quote that Harrison refuses to be oppressed by inarticulacy; again from 'Fire-eater', 'Theirs are the acts I nerve myself to follow. / I'm the clown sent in to clear the ring. / Theirs are the tongues of fire I'm forced to swallow / then bring back knotted, one continuous string / ignition long-pent silences, and going back / to Adam fumbling with Creation's names;

14'. Yet it seems Harrison is contradicting himself. Here, were see Harrison show a considerable objection to the manner in which his father and uncle speak.

Conversely, in poems such as 'On Not Being Milton' he demonstrates a passion for those who have previously been denied a voice, 'Three cheers for mute ingloriousness! / Articulation is the tongue-tied's fighting. / In the silence round all poetry we quote / Tidd the Cato Street conspirator who wrote: / Sir, I Ham a very Bad Hand at Righting.

15' Harrison celebrates the clumsy language used by 'Tidd the Cato Street conspirator'. Although Tidd uses inarticulate language, his voice his heard through his actions, that of the Cato Street Conspiracy, an attempt to murder all the cabinet ministers in 1820

16. With this in mind, we can assess Harrison's issue with the inarticulate voice from a new angle. By "attacking" his father in various poems it seems that it is not the language used which upsets Harrison but his father's inability to use his voice, to go unheard. Whether this be because the old man has nothing to say or perhaps society has silenced him. Regardless, Harrison is full of rage and anger. The inarticulate voice of the working class as described by Harrison acts as a division between the classes.

The working class are subdued and repressed by the higher classes. Harrison assesses this, examining all possibilities. From one angle, we can interpret inarticulacy as a product of social snobbery, if the problem isn't heard then there isn't a problem, best depicted in 'V', 'Aspirations, cunt! Folk on t'fucking dole / '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. '

17 However, when Harrison writes about his family we see the problem in a new light.

If we take into consideration the philosophy of Arthur Scargill that if the working class want to be heard then they must master their words then it would seem that Harrison's family are unable to find their voice purely because they aren't looking for it, from 'A Good Read', 'You'd never get unbearably excited / poring over Kafka or King Lear. / The only score you'd bother with's your darts / or fucking football. '

18 This lackadaisical attitude embitters Harrison who's main concern is finding an identity for the unspoken.