Polskie psałterze poetyckie przełomu XX i XXI w. Stabińska, Duda, Drozdowski, Frankiewicz, Adamczyk, Schramm)
The Polish Versed Psalters at the Turn of the 21st Century (Stabińska, Duda, Drozdowski, Frankiewicz, Adamczyk, Schramm)

Summary/Abstract: This article presents a synthetic review of six contemporary Polish psalters rendered as versed paraphrases, created in the three decades between 1985 and 2015. These works include: Psałterz poetycki by S. Jadwiga Stabińska OSB Ap, Psalmy Dawida wierszem przez Harry’ego Dudę, Bohdan Drozdowski’s psalter (edition 1 entitled: Psalmy. Spolszczył Bohdan Drozdowski; edition 2: Psalmy króla Dawida. Spolszczył Bohdan Drozdowski), Księgi Psalmów: według tekstów biblijnych by Fabian Frankiewicz, Księgi Psalmów w przekładzie na wiersz rymowany by Henryk Adamczyk and Stanisław Schramm’s Psalmy. Na podstawie łacińskiego tekstu w „Breviarium Romanum“ z roku 1961 przetłumaczył Stanisław Schramm. These translations are Biblical adaptations done by the enthusiasts rather than specialists and are located within the peripheries of the field of Biblical translation. However, they evidently highlight the original poetic nature of the Book of Psalms. Even though the poetic form is a common denominator of all the renderings listed above, they differ – in both quantitative and qualitative sense – in terms of the poetic exponents they use. The surface poetic exponent is the stanza and the regular syllabic metre. Only Frankiewicz and Drozdowski use irregular forms of the stanza. An obvious poetic signal – highlighted in the title sections of some of the psalters under analysis – is either direct or indirect rhyme, with the exception of Stabińska, who abandons rhyming altogether. The level of artistic mastery of the particular adaptations – which is in itself a relative issue – differs from text to text. It is a function of the author’s own literary workshop, personal sensitivity and talent. The psalters translated by the literati – Duda, Drozdowski and Stabińska – represent the highest artistic standards.

• Details
• Contents