"...pozostać wiernym niepewnej jasności" : wybrane problemy poezji Zbigniewa Herberta

Abstract

The book undertakes an attempt of interpretation and reinterpretation of lyric poetry by Zbigniew Herbert - one of the most outstanding poets of contemporary times. The analysis of selected problems of this poetry is not supposed to be a monograph. The assumption of the interpretation is complementing of former critical settlements by new, important issues describing Herbert’s output and the proposal of their new hierarchy. The book is composed of four parts: Introduction, two analytic-interpretative parts and the short chapter Instead of the Ending, which is not supposed to sum up the book as a whole, but to draw other issues worth discussing. Therefore the composition of the text is open what its subtitle Selected Problems... declares. In Introduction I present the common schema of perception of this poetry and Herbert’s portrayal as “inner” author: moralist, savant, prince of poets and irony what leads to sociological-literary conclusions, Herbert is perceived as an authority although recently lessening of his high, moralistic influence can be observed. In the first part of the paper entitled The Structure of the Authority analyse the lyric strategy of the author of Mister Cogito and interpret moral issues undertaken by him searching for those poetic factors which made Herbert’s output be perceived in an authoritative way. I am interested in sociological-cultural conditions conducive to constituting the authority, and as a historian of literature I also concentrate on the process of shaping Herbert’s dignity in chronological development - from the first verses to the last volume. I ask questions: What is Herbert saying? How does he do it that he is perceived as the authoritative poet? I try to answer those questions by performing possibly clear-sighted, multi-aspect interpretation of selected works, analysing structural steps, rhetorical effects and moralistic meaning of his poetry. The second part of the book entitled Mr Cogito's Travels is composed of three chapters which describe different aspects of travelling. The travel is an important motif in Herbert’s poetry - occurring repeatedly in poems and exposed in their titles. I introduce this poetic motif in three basic planes: existential (as life - way, also a symbol of fate of contemporary, homeless man driven away from Arcady), epistemological (as adventure enabling to study the world, other people and by them - himself) and sociological as accepting the status of a traveller contrary to an emigrant who is also a traveller, but according to Herbert - cutting himself off his roots. In the last part of the book entitled Instead of the Ending I propose the distinction important for the meanings of this poetry between scepticism (occurring in Herbert’s poetry and almost ignoring in the studies on his works) and irony (recognized as his crucial poethic method). My conclusions are based on philosophical contexts which the poet so often and distinctly approaches. The interpretations of particular poems and mechanisms activated in Herbert’s poetry presented in the book often take advantage of philosophical, sociological sources as well as those concerning history of art and history of culture. “Multi-language” poetry demands complex analysis concerning many research fields. That is why the book proposes repeatedly the deepening Polish scholar’s reflection with knowledge regarding different fields of the humanities that Zbigniew Herbert’s works refer to.