Towards a Collective Memorial: American Poetry After the Attacks on the World Trade Center, NYC

Authors : Seda ŞEN

Pages : 35-60

View : 36 | Download : 11

Publication Date : 2020-05-01

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :The destruction of the World Trade Center buildings during the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 have been used in poems written in response to the attacks by various poets as a means of coming to terms with the events. The poems discussed in this article may be regarded not only as a way of documenting the events but also as a way of creating commemorative spaces. By means of reproducing the striking visual images of the attacks, especially those broadcasted on television, the poems seem to illustrate multi-voiced responses to the attacks and provide a space for commemoration as alternatives to the physical memorials like Reflecting Absence and One World Trade Center. In other words, the poems share similar characteristics to monuments and create a medium for healing from the trauma. The aim of this article is to study the poetic responses to the collapsing of the World Trade Center buildings and the ways in which the buildings are symbolically rebuilt in the lines of poetry as an act of commemoration.
Keywords : September 11, 2001, American Poetry and September 11 Attacks, Poetic Memorialization, Word monument, Poetic Monument, Digital Poetry

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