Czy to lina, czy dziewczyna? – tekstowy obraz kobiety i żaglowca w polskich szantach
Is That a Girl or a Rope? – Textual Image of a Woman and a Sailing Ship in Polish Shanties

Summary/Abstract: The study subjects of this article are Polish sea shanties embracing both original texts and translations from different languages. The study material comes from the www.szanty.art.pl website, websites of particular sea shanty bands as well as songbooks. The analysis intends to discuss certain methods of the conceptualization of both a woman and a sailing ship in the collected texts with special emphasis put on those which embody ambiguity and jokes. In sea shanties, a woman is described in terms of, inter alia, a sailing vessel which, in turn, is depicted in terms of female beauty. Such descriptions are marked by an apparent imprint of sexuality, which, however, is not usually expressed directly but only through innuendoes, jokes and puns.

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