Representations of Individualism in Kate Tempest's "Brand New Ancients" and "Let Them Eat Chaos"

Abstract

This study provides an analysis of representations of individualism in Kate Tempest’s Brand New Ancients and Let Them Eat Chaos, charting Tempest’s criticism on contemporary western society. Little former academic research has been conducted into the poetry of Kate Tempest. Three forms of individualism are distinguished in the theoretical framework, neoliberal individualism, humanistic individualism, and institutionalised individualism. Representations of individualism are distilled from Tempest poetry through close reading, and linked to the definitions of individualism as described in the theoretical framework.Together the representations of individualism seem to function as a warning on the societal effects of the current view on the individual in contemporary western society as perceived by Tempest.