Mirtis ir amžinybė : poeto eschatologija

Abstract

Alfonsas Nyka-Niliūnas is one of the most problematical poets in Lithuanian literature of the 20th century. His poetry searches for man's meaning in a transient world. Since the poet wants to discover the world, he leaves his native home and enters this world both physically and spiritually. Man's existence on earth is contained between the two crucial points of birth and death. In Niliūnas' poetry birth is a reason for death and the reverse - death is a reason for birth. This cycle of birth and death continues till the end of time. People and things are touched by finality. The poet sees death everywhere. Nyka-Niliūnas does not want to accept this process and tries to counter it with images of memory and of poetry. Poetry for Niliūnas has a protective power; it is a reflection of eternity. Niliūnas' man stands alone in this world and tries to discover eternity within himself. He refuses Christ's resurrection because he perceives the second coming of Christ as the end of man's world; this world will be destroyed and replaced by God's Kingdom. For Niliūnas the meaning of man's existence is on this earth, here and now, but not elsewhere and at some other time. Thus, the help of Christ is not needed. The poet opts for death and his own poetic resurrection.