Testament poetycki jako wtórny gatunek mowy

Abstract

The article is an attempt to indicate changes which have occured in the testament form, due to the modifications introduced into the life context of the genre. The shift that has emerged on the line: original genre (the legal testament) — the derivative genre (poetic testament), divested the latter of the performative character distinctive of an act of recording. This act being an element of the legal testament, in the poetic testament is replaced with acts of admonishment. Moreover, in poetic testaments, which do not entail any legal consequences, the legates and, more importantly, the legacy are also less concrete, as the legacy usually no longer consists of material goods, but of the lyrical subject’s ideological message, that is his/her spiritual legacy.