Zbawiająca wierność. Uwagi do wiersza Anny Kamieńskiej [Kiedy odchodzą wielcy]
A Redeeming Faithfulness: Some Remarks on Anna Kamienska’s Poem “Kiedy odchodza wielcy” (When the great ones pass away)

Summary/Abstract: The article offers a commentary on Anna Kamienska’s poem “Kiedy odchodza wielcy” (“When the great ones pass away”). Dedicated to Maria Janion, great scholar and scholar of Polish Romanticism, the poem was written in 1965, during Kamienska’s trip to Vilnius. The context which served as the basis for the commentary comprises working materials related to the genesis of the poem, such as calendars, diaries, poetry notebooks, and a photo album. In the successive sections of the paper, the author answers questions concerning the origin of the dedication, Kamienska’s experiences of the Vilnius journey essential to the creation of the poem, and its possible hidden protagonist. The proposed interpretation focuses on the motif of old women in the poem and its rootedness in Kamienska’s output, as well as on the uniqueness of the treatment of this motif by Kamienska in 20th-century Polish literature.

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