“Jur višekrat primih pero…”: poezija kao sebe-znanje u ljubavnim sonetima Ivana Mažuranića
»Many a Time have I reached for the Pen...«: Poetry as Self-Knowledge in Love Sonnets by Ivan Mažuranić

Summary/Abstract: Based on the interpretation of Ivan Mažuranić’s almost forgotten lyrical love poems, the paper deals with the issue of creative articulation of the poet’s self-awareness as a specific self-knowledge of the writer. The interpretation foregrounds the Romantic concept of the dynamic lyrical subject as a specific selfhood-coming-into-being, verbally manifested through specific textual procedures, that is to say, through the (self-)realisation of poetic views and creative concepts. In doing so, it places Mažuranić’s sonnets within the framework of the European theoretical and creative context, comparing them to the poetic principles and creative achievements of significant authors such as F. Schlegel, P. B. Shelley and W. Wordsworth, as well to Petrarchan love poetry of contemporary Croatian poets such as S. Vraz or P. Preradović. Such an interpretation shows that the lyrical poetry of the author of The Death of Smail-aga Čengić corresponds to the mainstream poetic trends of the Romantic Period to a much greater extent than it is usually thought to be the case.

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