Za mundurem... : wokół "Junkra" Władysława Sebyły

Abstract

In the article, the author utilizes the vestimental discourse in order to analyze one of Sebyła’s poems. These tropes are, in a sense, suggested by the author himself, since the entire lyrical cycle entitled Pieśni szczurołapa (Songs of the Rat Catcher) is permeated by descriptions of articles of clothing understood as important attributes of the characters. In this context, the military equipment is imbued with symbolic significance which intertwines with the other articles of clothing enclosed in a lyrical cabinet of curiosities. The author analyzes those sartorial choices in several categories: cleanliness and dirtiness, understatement and opulence, devilish contrariness and soldierly virtue, etc. In this way, the author constructs an analysis in which Junker (The Cadet) is revealed to belong to a larger whole, while that lyrical complex cannot be fully understood without it.