Polish Poet Research Articles

„Nie sądzę, żeby posądzanie mnie o wrogość do Kościoła było słuszne” . Związki Czesława Miłosza z Seminarium Polskim w Paryżu

Czesław Miłosz is one of the greatest Polish poets, essayists and translators. In 1980, in recognition of his literary merits, he was awarded the Nobel Prize. He was born in 1911 in Lithuania. This is how he graduated from the law studies at the Stefan Batory University. In Vilnius, he was one of the leading activists of the local literary circle. In 1933, his first book was published (Poem of Frozen Time). Before the outbreak of World War II, he worked for Polish Radio. After 1939, he was forced to stay in Romania, then in Vilnius, and finally managed to get to Warsaw. He took part in the underground cultural life of the occupied capital. After 1945, he began to cooperate with the communist authorities. As a diplomat, he worked at posts in New York, Washington and Paris. In 1951, Czesław Miłosz decided to resign from his position as cultural attaché at the Polish Embassy in Paris. For him, a difficult period begins both materially and morally: destitute, with a marriage (civil union) falling apart. By a happy coincidence, the then Rector of Polish Seminary in Paris, Father Antoni Banaszak, stood on his life path. As a result of his efforts, on 13 January 1956, in the Polish church at rue Saint Honoré, the writer sanctioned their long-standing relationship with a church wedding. What was the relationship between the Rector of the Polish Seminary and Czesław Miłosz, a former communist dyplomat who came from he USA?

«PIESEK PRZYDOROŻNНY» ТА «ABECADŁO» ЧЕСЛАВА МІЛОША ЯК КАРТИНА ХХ СТОЛІТТЯ

The article aims to study the poetics evolution of a great Polish poet and prose writer, Nobel prize winner Czesław Miłosz towards a fundamentally new comprehensive literary form: from “Piesek Przydrożny” (“Roadside Dog” 1997) to “Abecadło” (“Milosz`s ABC`s” 1997) and “Inne Abecadło” (“A Further Alphabet” 1998). The purpose stimulates the usage of the analytical, hermeneutics and receptive methodology, as well as textual analysis. It is stressed that the years of this work publication indicate the writerєі success in his determined search for a form that would be capable, containing immense life material, countless events, lives and artistic-philosophical reflections, to create the picture of the 20th century. The paper highlights why “Piesek Przydrożny” does not meet any requirements for containing the unlimited number of life facts within a text. We’ve noted the organizing function of Piesek in the system of a fictional unity. Moving freely, Piesek made it possible for Miłosz to create a certain series of philosophical pieces (“Ubóstwo wyobraźni”, “Wzniosłość”, “Pieśń dziadowsku”, “Со upadek”, “Powieść”, “Gombrowicz”, “Polski literat”) and several tragic essays – “Ojcowskie kłopoty”, “Zmartwienia historyka” and others. It is proven that while the form of this book contains a variety of material, it still cannot give Miłosz the absolute freedom he was striving for. The writer was determined to find the form which would, according to him, “allow for much freedom”, “not pursue beauty but just register facts”. Considering Е. Brazgovskaya’s findings, the productivity of the alphabet (аbecadło) is proved. The paper expresses the idea that one can treat the alphabet (аbecadło) as a kind of a memoir genre. The innovative structure of “Abecadło”, consisting of essays-novels, is analyzed. The article traces the associative connections which cement 200 essays into a single entity, creating the image of the epoch.

The notion of Stanislav Shevchenko’s translation in ukrainian-polish cultural relation

The notion of Stanislav Shevchenko’s translation in ukrainian-polish cultural relation The problem of Ukrainian-Polish relations in the field of culture as the most effective and mass form of communication has always aroused the interest of researchers. Cultural dialogue contributes to the cognition, national awareness, mutual enrichment and interpenetration of cultures. This applies to the greatest extent to the cultures of Ukraine and Poland, as it is proved by the centuries of common history of these countries. The proclamation of Ukraine’s independence and the victory of democratic forces in Poland, the establishment of relations between the countries at the level of strategic partnership were the impulse for historical coverage of various aspects of relations between the two countries based on their comprehensive study and analysis with a renewed Europe in the background. Stanislav Shevchenko’s translation occupies an important place among the literary achievements in Ukrainian-Polish cultural relations. Stanislav Shevchenko (poet, translator, member of the Writers’ Union of Ukraine) was born in 1947 in Chernihiv region, in the picturesque village of Hrabiv, Ichnia district. He graduated from the Faculty of Cybernetics of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (former Taras Shevchenko State University of Kyiv). Stanislav Shevchenko is an Honored Art Worker of Ukraine and Honored Worker of Polish Culture. The artist’s poetry masterpieces include ‘Seredyna Riky’ (‘Middle of the River’), ‘Vira i Sumniv’ (‘Faith and Doubt’), ‘Duma Kyparysa’ (‘Cypress Thought’), ‘Spiv Chuttia’ (‘Singing Sense’), ‘Blyz’ke i Nedosiazhne’ (‘Close and Unreachable’), ‘Zakon zberezhennia liubovi’ (‘The Law of Preservation of Love’), ‘Kvity nebesni zemnoi liubovi’ (‘Heavenly Flowers of Earthly Love’), ‘Pid suzir’iam pasiky’ (‘Under the Constellation apiaries’), ‘Dim dlia dushi’ (‘House for the soul’), ‘Nezryma hran’ (‘Invisible border’), etc. He is the author and host of several cultural programs of the National Radio Company of Ukraine, a laureate of Ukrainian and Polish literary prizes named after I. Nechuy-Levytsky, M. Rylsky, I. Koshelivets, V. Chumak, V. Gulevych, F. Karpinsky and A. Mickiewicz Institute. For more than twenty years Stanislav Shevchenko has been improving his translation skills by publishing essays on the works of Polish poets, participating in symposia and scientific sessions. He has been on internships several times at the two most important universities in Poland – Jagiellonian and Warsaw ones. In the early 1990s, he visited Roman Catholic priest Jan Twardowski, and later met Czeslaw Milosz and Ernest Brill. He received the consent of the Vatican to translate the poems of Pope John Paul II. In his ‘literary’ travels he crossed almost all Poland, getting acquainted with the most important artistic centers. Seeking to show Polish poetry not only in modern terms, he chose the nowadays creators, with a few exceptions, such as Stanislaw Grochowiak, who died in 1976.

Obrazy zesłania – "Poezje" Tadeusza Łady-Zabłockiego

The author takes a closer look at the poetic activity of Tadeusz Łada-Zabłocki, who, while in exile, passionately and courageously cultivated literary activity. Presenting an impressive portrait of the exiled poet, she focuses not only on his literary life, but also on his translation work, as a translator of, among other things, communal songs of Transcaucasian Tatars. Łada-Zabłocki is also seen as a protector, promoting young Polish poets and facilitating the publication of their poems.

Miłosz Pinned Down?

Miłosz Pinned Down?

The Un-Polish Poland, 1989 and the Illusion of Regained Historical Continuity

The Un-Polish Poland, 1989 and the Illusion of Regained Historical Continuity

Reading Anna Frajlich's Latest Volume of Poetry

Reading Anna Frajlich's Latest Volume of Poetry

Les anabases de Saint-John Perse et de Zbigniew Herbert

The Anabases of Saint-John Perse and Zbigniew Herbert This article deals with the motif of “anabasis” in the poetry of Saint-John Perse and the Polish poet Zbigniew Herbert. The former, a poet and diplomat, gave this title to a poem written in the early 1920s, before he stepped onto the stage of international politics of the interwar period. It, in a way, anticipates his professional and existential choices. Herbert’s “Anabasis” appeared in 1983 in his collection of poems entitled Raport z oblężonego miasta [Report from a Besieged City]. Although two generations and vastly different geopolitical points of origin separate the authors of these poems, both writers left their “small homelands” (Guadeloupe, Lwów), to become witnesses to history filled with socio-political events in the face of which they could not remain neutral. Saint-John Perse began his own poetic “anabasis” in 1940, as an “exile” having escaped to the USA. Zbigniew Herbert published his “Anabasis” in a time when communist Poland would, once again (following the institution of Martial Law in 1981), would confirm his “internal exile.” Personal contexts aside, the “anabases” of Perse and Herbert represent a search for the “right word” which anticipates the script of existence or which is a meditation on exile, expressing through modern poetic means the desire to recover, or constantly (re)construct, their imaginative and spiritual homelands.

"Ja, żołnierz, poeta, czasu kurz…" (żołnierska biografia Krzysztofa Kamila Baczyńskiego)

The goal of this article is to depict an important episode in a biography of an outstanding Polish poet, a representative of “the generation of Columbuses” – Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński. This episode was the military service of the poet. Baczyński consciously resigned from the Polish studies at the secret Warsaw University and in June of 1943 joined the Assault Groups of the Gray Ranks. He went through all the training stages on the cadet level and took part in assault actions, including detonation of a train transporting German soldiers. On 1st August 1944 he took part in the Warsaw Upraising and on the 4th day of said month he died in the Blank Palace at the Theater Square. The motives of Baczyński’s actions were the family tradition as well as the model of the soldier-poet preserved in the Romantic culture. “Me, soldier, poet, dust of time...” (Soldier Biography of Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński) The goal of this article is to depict an important episode in a biography of an outstanding Polish poet, a representative of “the generation of Columbuses” – Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński. This episode was the military service of the poet. Baczyński consciously resigned from the Polish studies at the secret Warsaw University and in June of 1943 joined the Assault Groups of the Gray Ranks. He went through all the training stages on the cadet level and took part in assault actions, including detonation of a train transporting German soldiers. On 1st August 1944 he took part in the Warsaw Upraising and on the 4th day of said month he died in the Blank Palace at the Theater Square. The motives of Baczyński’s actions were the family tradition as well as the model of the soldier-poet preserved in the Romantic culture.

Juliusz Słowacki in the Holy Land in 1837

ABSTRACT The Polish poet Juliusz Słowacki (1809–1849) travelled through Palestine between 2 January and 27 January 1837, from El-Arish on the southern border with Egypt, at that time quarantined owing to plague, to the area around Lake Tiberias in the north, which had just been devastated by a strong earthquake. A detailed analysis of the itinerary of this pilgrimage has made it possible to establish new circumstances and topographical facts. The poet’s recently discovered personal diary (Raptularz Wschodni) contains hitherto unknown observations and drawings by the author himself. Together with his other travel notes and recollections in his letters, they constitute an invaluable basis for a new account of how and where he wandered, and where he stayed and spent the night. The published accounts of other 19th-century travellers in Palestine have helped establish further details: three Polish Roman Catholic priests, two French intellectuals, and the English aristocrat and globetrotter G. Robinson, as well as site views by D. Roberts. The traditional and often erroneous identification and dating of the sites visited by Słowacki have been verified on the basis of scientific historical and archaeological research as well as the author's own observations in situ in Israel and her interviews with Franciscan archivists. As far as the extensive modern Polish literature on this journey concerns, the novelty here lies in identifying features in three of Slowacki’s drawings and determining the places where the poet stayed in the Franciscan hospices in Ramla, Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth.

Eimuntas Nekrošius's Transnational ‘Voice from Lithuania’: Reinterpreting Polish Classics within Frames of the Theatre of Sensual Metaphors

The aim of this article is an interpretation of Eimuntas Nekrošius's performances staged in the National Theatre Warsaw in the last years of his life. In the context of complex political and cultural relationships between Poland and Lithuania, the aesthetics of the theatre of sensual metaphors invented by Nekrošius might be perceived from an uncommon perspective – not as a type of universal art presenting crucial issues of mankind, but as a transnational reinterpretation of Polish classic plays – first of all, the nineteenth-century Forefathers’ Eve by Adam Mickiewicz, the Polish poet born near Vilnius in Lithuania. From this point of view, the theatre of Nekrošius reveals his political potential to create a transnational bridge between neighbour states. The author tries to apply notions of ‘subaltern agency’ (Gayatri Spivak) and the ‘cosmopolitan subject’ (Yana Meerzon) to present the complex issue of empowerment of Polish and Lithunanian subjects – from rejection of the false messianic consciousness to transnational rapprochement.

Wyrolowani przez agrologistykę. Cukry złożone Szymona Szwarca

Putting into work the theories of Karen Barad (spacetimemattering) and Timothy Morton (ecognosis), the author of the article investigates the volume Polysaccharides (2020) by Szymon Szwarc. The Polish poet, like Barad, notices the connections and entanglements between various actors of the world (although he uses the language of molecular biology rather than the language of quantum physics). The portrayal of these connections serves him as the basis for a poetic critique of “agrilogistics”, which, according to Morton, has been a perpetual pattern of human activity since the Neolithic Revolution. The author of the article analyzes these issues, especially with regard to the poem Boiler Broad Bean . He comes to the conclusion that Szwarc develops his own consideration regarding agrilogistics, which is close to new materialism.

Edward Krasiński's "Overhead Sculptures": A Manifestation of Modernity

Edward Krasiński's "Overhead Sculptures":A Manifestation of Modernity Elżbieta Błotnicka-Mazur (bio) Krasiński's composition was suspended in air, it was floating by a miracle of levitation—above the grass, on which it left its red splashes, initially it moved vertically upwards, then, turning suddenly in a horizontal direction, it visibly gained a force through a length, that faded from black to white; then, after losing its continuity, it imposed itself after an interval (full of the expectation of a stroke) with its sharp, more and more red spike piercing the horizon. The creation caused me to exclaim with surprise: that is an "aerial creation," newness. When I came closer, I understood the miracle of levitation: Krasiński stretched his "spear of the atomic age" … on the thin wires strung between the trees. But the wires were invisible, the speeding spear had, in the eyes of the viewer, its own gravitational field. Julian Przyboś, "Overhead sculptures"1 Polish poet and art critic Julian Przyboś (1901–1970) drew upon interwar avant-garde ideas to apply the concept of "overhead sculptures" to the linear sculptural compositions entitled Dzidy (The Spears), by the artist Edward Krasiński (1925–2004), who presented his work at the second (1964) and third (1965) Koszalin Plein-air exhibitions in Osieki (Poland).2 The epigraph, which refers to a significant moment in Krasiński's oeuvre, captures the purpose of this article: to present the cycle of the artist's "overhead sculptures" as a manifestation of modernity. Polish modernism originated in the concepts of artists connected with the prewar group "a. r." from Łódź (Katarzyna Kobro, Władysław Strzemiński, Julian Przyboś). The political and artistic [End Page 653] situation in the post-World War II Polish People's Republic in which Krasiński lived and worked serves as a background for discussing the commonalities between Krasiński's art and ideas of interwar avant-garde art and postwar theories, thus emphasizing the idea of modernity in the title "overhead sculptures."3 There are heretofore unappreciated connections between interwar avant-garde experiments and Krasiński's works, especially his Spears compositions, which are based in the cultural reality of a postwar East European country. Krasiński was born in 1925, in Lutsk in Volhynia (today's Ukraine), to an aristocratic family. During World War II, he studied interior design and graphics at the Staatliche Kunstgewerbeschule, established by the Germans in occupied Kraków (1940–1942). From 1945 to 1948, he studied painting at the Kraków Academy of Fine Arts. In 1954, Krasiński moved to Warsaw, where he began making press illustrations. From the start, Krasiński was involved with the "galerie autorskie" environment—the independent, to a limited extent, art galleries, like Warsaw's Krzywe Koło, founded by artists and critics during the communist era.4 Following the gallery's closure in 1966, Krasiński teamed up with art critics (including Wiesław Borowski, Hanna Ptaszkowska, and Mariusz Tchorek), as well as the artists Zbigniew Gostomski, Tadeusz Kantor, and Henryk Stażewski to cofound the Foksal Gallery.5 In the 1950s, his paintings could be seen as surrealistic poetics. In the early 1960s, Krasiński began making relief and spatial painting-objects out of slats, hinges, and wire. The next stage of his artistic activity was marked by "Spears"—sculptural compositions which, exposed in an open space thanks to almost invisible wire, gave the impression of movement. Line, a leading form of expression in Krasiński's spatial "interventions," was primarily shaped with rigid materials such as wire, plastic, or wood (which the artist exchanged for soft cable coil at the end of the decade).6 At this time too, Krasiński began marking the space with blue strip—Scotch-Blue tape that appeared independently from surrounding objects. This technique gave unique conceptual form to his works and has become Krasiński's "trademark."7 It also set him against the official art supported by Polish communist authorities, for whom Krasiński's work appeared to clash with the acceptable artistic landscape. Although much has been published about culture and art in the Soviet satellite countries, important aspects regarding...

Messianism as a political disease: Czesław Miłosz about Russia

The proposed article examines the phenomenon of political messianism on the basis of refl ections on Russia by the Polish poet and political thinker Czesław Miłosz. The dual nature of the Russian national consciousness is shown; the peculiarities of the thinker’s interpretation of the political determinants of F. Dostoevsky’s work are revealed; the defi ning factors of Soviet totalitarianism, formed under the infl uence of the Russian national idea, were revealed. Prospects for further socio-political development of Russia have been clarifi ed. An analysis of the Polish thinker’s work showed that Miłosz never believed that Russia could be democratic. According to him, despite the historical transformations of its inherent political regimes, it is invariably an aggressive geographical space that produces a «captive mind» and is manifested in the creation of a specifi c socio-political order, rejection of individual freedom, the tendency to believe in fate as a historical necessity. In his view, Russia does not succumb to common sense. And in one of his last interviews, the poet noted that after the tragedy in Dubrovka, he will have to study Russia again. Accordingly, he believed that in the future, if this country changes, it will not be «Sakharov», but rather – «Solzhenitsyn». Given the above, in the context of Russia’s war against Ukraine on February 24, 2022 and the challenge to the entire civilized world, it is important for Ukrainians to understand the problems of Eastern («other») Europe in the creative heritage of Czesław Miłosz in order to fi nd answers, which invariably worries us: «What is the path to Ukraine for Ukraine?». This is extremely important given that, like Czesław Miłosz, the Ukrainian man, in search of «another heaven, another earth,» seeks to return to himself in order to protect himself from further spiritual devastation. Hence, the important perspective tasks for us are to fi nd out on the basis of understanding the legacy of C. Miłosz the role of the creative personality in history and its responsibility for the expressed ideas; substantiation of the importance of the language issue for national development and human self-realization; identifying the factors and consequences of totalitarian rule in Eastern Europe; drawing attention to the acute political and social problems of historical and modern development; clarifying the needs and prospects for the formation of future coexistence of man and humanity. Key words: messianic worldview, political messianism, national idea, national consciousness, Russian communism, Russian culture.

LANGUAGE AND STYLISTIC FEATURES OF THE COLLECTED POEMS “DROBNA ZMIANA” BY MARCIN ŚWIETLICKI

Introduction. Marcin Њwietlicki is a modern Polish poet and prose writer, winner of many literary awards. The critics praised his collections “Pieśni profana” (1998), “Czynny do odwołania” (2001), “Delta Dietla” (2015), etc. One of his latest works – “Drobna zmiana”, issued in 2016 – has practically not been investigated. This book is a sample for lexicosemantic analysis.Purpose. The purpose of the paper is to analyze the M. Њwietlicki’s collected poems “Drobna zmiana”, to determine the specific features of the author’s language with special interest to syntax, vocabulary and stylistics.Methods. The research is grounded on the descriptive method, the methods of synthesis and induction, contextual analysis and quantitative analysis as well. Results. The collection of poems “Drobna zmiana” is characterized by short and simple sentences, unusual titles (in particular, according to their belonging to the parts of speech), laconicism and cyclicity, polysemanticity, a large number of interrogative sentences, a combination of everyday and exotic vocabulary, anglicicisms, the names of modern subjects, “tabooed” lexemes.The quantitative analysis which results are given in the paper illustrates that titlesnouns (26,3%), titles-combinations of nouns with adjectives (25,3%) and with numerals (11%) are the most numerous in the investigated collection of poems. The popularity of titles-nounsis probably connected with specific author’s style, his world view and his tendency to watch and to nominate reality, both everyday and exotic things. The last place was occupied by poems’ namespronouns,adjectives, adverbs, verbs and a combination of several different parts of speech.Conclusion. The M. Њwietlicki’s language is modern and close to the youth culture, although this author was born in the early sixties of the XX century. The special linguistic features and distinctive style of the book “Drobna zmiana” make it controversial, ambiguous, deep in content and relevant to both linguists and a wide range of readers. This study has broad perspectives, which include, in particular, investigation of linguistic features of the other M. Świetlicki’s collected poems, analysis of his prose’s language, finding the peculiarities of these texts’ translations, as well as their comparison with the works of the other writers.

Intersection of Conflicting Values: Symbols of Memory and Acts of Artistic Expression

Symbols of the past influence the present, very often dependent on the will of those who currently “weave the story,” to use the expression coined by Olga Tokarczuk.1 This applies in particular to national symbols, burdened by historical trauma, whose rank and protection may become handy tools for controlling social and public narratives. In this context, it is the law itself, with its special category of memory laws, that very often turns out to be instrumentally used by the state apparatus to strengthen such narratives. In times of social peace, this kind of state-governed manner of how we remember and perceive symbols remains imperceptible. However, in times of turmoil, symbols can serve as legal weapons against rights and freedoms. Then, the protection of the national anthem or emblem, monuments or graphics may be turned into the de facto protection of the state against its critics. Labelling themselves as the guardians of “historical truth,” the authorities tend to secure the orthodox vision of the past. Importantly, this vision very often remains distant from the official findings of historians. It was exactly in such an ideologically and nationalistically burdened social atmosphere in Poland when Jaś Kapela, Polish poet and activist, decided to perform publicly his protest song. He did so by changing the official wording of the Polish national anthem into a pro-refugee appeal and broadcast it on YouTube, which eventually brought him before Polish courts, including the Supreme Court.

Świetliste szczeliny niebios Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski, gwiazdy i „etruski poeta”

Lucent Cracks of Heavens: Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski, Stars and an “Etrurian Poet” The paper tries to display the links between a catalogue of metaphors contained in Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski’s handbook entitled Characteres lyrici, seu Horatius et Pindarus and Giambattista Marino’s Canzone delle stelle. Based upon his college lectures (Połock 1626/1627), Sarbiewski’s work offers practical rules for the composition of lyrical poetry and some theoretical considerations. Among many “ornaments related to the lyrical invention”, a very important stylistic device mentioned by the Jesuit poet and theorist is a “definition by accumulation”(definitio conglobata), that is, a series of extended metaphors or other figurative expressions, for example periphrasis, metonymy or allegory. This rhetorical strategy serves as a useful instrument in reintegrating the art of invention with amplification aimed particularly at the accumulation of different words or figures. As the “ornament of the lyric invention”, the definition described by the author appears no to be restricted only to effective searching for ideas and concepts; it is also a valuable tool for achieving unusual power of expression and for exercising composition and style. Sarbiewski quotes an example concerning the stars, taken, as he says, from „a contemporary Etrurian poet”. In his commentary to the edition of Characteres lyrici, Stanisław Skimina identified this poet as Dante, which was subsequently taken for granted by many scholars. Recently, the poet in question has been proved to be Giambattista Marino, famous for his style characterized by many extravagant conceits, excessive figures, and other complicated rhetorical patterns. The authors analyze Sarbiewski’s catalogue in the context of Canzone delle stelle, dealing with the way the Polish poet understands and changes the original. While translating Marino’s poem into Latin and listing metaphorical “definitions”of stars, he retained freedom of creative interpretation. For this reason, in his catalogue one may find far-reaching textual changes, for example misreading of words, omission of some figures or simplification of meanings.

Konstanty Gorsky’s Songs on Polish texts: aspects of genre stylistics

Statement of the problem. K. Gorsky’s creativity has not been studied enough. Relatively recently, articles by R. Aladova (2005), G. Serochinsky (2010), V. Luniakyna (2009), T. Bakhmet (2009) and other authors have been published due to the growing public interest in his creative figure. However, the vocal works by K. Gorsky have not yet been studied in their multi-level connections with national, historical and genre stylistics, as well as the predominant genre of solo singing, on the basis of which the composer formed the intonation specifics of his own chamber vocal style. Therefore, there is a need for further study of the vocal style of K. Gorsky, in particular, the inclusion of his works in a wide repertoire of concert and chamber singing. The purpose of the study is to identify the stylistic features of the key genre of K. Gorsky’s vocal works – the romance, which is most clearly represented in the cycle “12 Romances” based on the texts of the Polish poets – M. Konopnicka, W. Syrokomla, Z. Dembitsky (Dębicki). For the first time, an integrated approach is applied to the songs by K. Gorsky, as to original examples of this genre interpretation in the post-romantic era, with an emphasis on their style features – national and “personal”. The work on the research topic required the use of general scientific and special musicological methods, including historical-genetic, deductive approaches, genre-stylistic and performance analysis. Results and conclusions. The legacy of K. Gorsky (1859–1924), a virtuoso violinist, one of the founders of the musical culture of Kharkiv, includes vocal genres. In the mature period of his activity (1900s), the composer focused specifically on vocal genres, namely romances (he created about 100 pieces), arrangements of Ukrainian folk songs, cantatas on spiritual themes, choral concerts and operas. The main features of his romantic outlook, combined with the Polish musical mentality, are concentrated in “12 Songs” with Polish lyrics. Semantically, K. Gorsky’s romances gravitate toward lyrical contemplation, conveying its various states, from “objective” epics and sound imagery to emotional outbursts, which brings them closer to opera arioso. Within the framework of the cycle, there is an allocation and alternation of songs-romances of four semantic modes: folkpoetic, reflexive-lyrical, graceful-salon, free-declamatory reminiscent of “poetry with music”. Each of these groups is based on certain traditions and requires appropriate means of performance interpretation.

The Sound of Modern Polish Poetry: Performance and Recording after World War II by Aleksandra Kremer

Reviewed by: The Sound of Modern Polish Poetry: Performance and Recording after World War II by Aleksandra Kremer E. M. Stańczyk Kremer, Aleksandra. The Sound of Modern Polish Poetry: Performance and Recording after World War II. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA London, 2021. 364 pp. Notes. Index. $45.00: £39.95: €40.95. In this brilliant new monograph Aleksandra Kremer studies poetry readings by major Polish poets that have been preserved through official, semi-official and private sound recordings. Her primary focus is on seven male and three female poets — Julian Tuwim, Czesław Miłosz, Miron Białoszewski, Aleksander Wat, Wisława Szymborska, Zbigniew Herbert, Anna Kamieńska, Anna Świrszczyńska, Tadeusz Różewicz and Julian Przyboś — in addition to several others. Kremer sets herself an ambitious task: to explore how the poets’ approach to reading reflected their attitude to the Polish literary tradition, poetry performance and, importantly, poetry creation. Using the computer programme Praat, which analyses pitch, duration, loudness and timbre of sound waves, Kremer studies ‘each poet individually, trying to grasp their individuality at the crossroads of acoustics and linguistics’ (p. 27). To Kremer, a poem is not a static piece of work. Rather, the ‘the sounds of the poets’ speech […] supplement or contradict what we learn from print’ (p. 28). The book consists of five excellent chapters. Chapter one discusses what could be potentially the oldest recorded reading by a Polish poet, produced as a sound postcard in the United States in 1941. Julian Tuwim, the poet behind the recording, emulated an older tradition of reading poetry to friends and family. His sound postcard was sent as a Christmas gift to his sister in London, two decades before authors in Poland had access to comparable technology. In a similar vein, the young poet Halina Poświatowska recorded two of her works in 1959 during a stay with relatives in America. The recording was meant as a family keepsake which became all the more cherished after the poet’s untimely death eight years later. Kremer’s analysis of these early recordings [End Page 549] illustrates what she does so well throughout the monograph as a whole. She demonstrates that studying voice recordings such as these can open up space for thought-provoking comparisons; in this case — comparisons that run across generational, gender and stylistic lines. Chapter two discusses Czesław Miłosz as a reader and translator of his own poems. Kremer shows how the two roles overlapped in the poet’s biography. Miłosz’s own translations into English followed the Polish syntax and prosody which, even if unnatural in the target language, was meant to facilitate his participation — through poetry readings — in the cultural life of the United States where he lived for more than three decades. While his rhythmical and beautifully enunciated speech in Polish bore all the hallmarks of the ‘phonetic patterns from another time’ (p. 117), distinguishing his readings from both everyday speech and existing recitation styles, the poet’s recorded performances in English were visibly less skilled. Like Miłosz, Miron Białoszewski, who is the focus of chapter three, was an avid performer of his own poems. Tape-recording became central to his work in the 1960s and ’70s, as seen, for example, in the private recordings produced for close friend Jadwiga Stańczakowa. In contrast to Białoszewski’s theatrical style, readings by the Nobel Prize-winning Wisława Szymborska were understated and conversational, conjuring an atmosphere of home, even in the setting of a recording studio. The penultimate and final chapters deal with sound recordings that speak to the fragility of the poet’s body and their unwillingness or inability to deliver a ‘good’ reading, respectively. Chapter four discusses ‘taped farewells’ — recitations of poems interspersed with informal commentary — by sick and aging poets, such as Herbert, Wat, Kamieńska and Świrszczyńska. According to Kremer, these ‘highly somatic final recordings were courageous in revealing weakness, but they also aimed to overcome the body one last time in order to create variously imagined recorded afterlives’ (p. 216). Chapter five looks at the ‘unbeautiful readings’ by poets such as Różewicz who disliked performing and whose reading style...

Memory, the City, and the Legacy of World War II in East Central Europe: The Ghosts of Others

Memory, the City, and the Legacy of World War II in East Central Europe: The Ghosts of Others