The Island Nation and Euroscepticism:

Revisiting Europe’s Heritage in Brexit Poetry

Abstract

The idea of “Britain and Europe” that David Cameron emphasised in his speech on
23 January 2013 is a curious one – LWHYRNHVDVKDUHGKLVWRU\IXOORILQWULFDWHWZLVWV
which spans over several centuries, and at the same time, preserves the apparent
incompatibility of the island nation and the continent. Cameron even proposed an
“in-out referendum” to determine the future of the British people, and its realisation
in 2016 made Brexit an unexpected reality and signifies DFUXFLDOVHWEDFNLQWKHUHFHQW
history of the European project. Brexit is furthermore an expression of “a perceived
cultural distinction between Britain and Europe” (Spiering 2015) that seems to
persist in British discourse specifically.
The paper thus uses Menno Spiering’s concept of “British Euroscepticism”
(2004), a unique form of Euroscepticism in terms of history, politics and culture, to
discuss the cultural aspects of British differentness as entailing not only an
opposition to Europe but also a potential to reflect on shared values and experiences.
Based on this, the paper will trace the presentation of Europe in contemporary
literature that emerged as a reaction to Brexit, especially poetry by Simon Armitage,
6HDQ2·%ULHQDQG'DYLG&ODUNHWRDVFHrtain the British perspective on the continent
as either the paradigmatic Other or a constituent part for defining British identity.
Keywords: Euroscept