"Nie, Ja Na Pewno Ciebie Nie Zapomnę." Pojęcie Ojczyzny W Poezji Czesława Miłosza
"No, I Will Certainly not Forget You." The Notion of Homeland in the Poetry of Czesław Miłosz

Summary/Abstract: Czesław Miłosz’s relations with homeland are very complicated, which results from, among others, his ambiguous valorization of this notion, and different look at elements comprising it. For the Polish Nobel Prize winner, homeland is not identical to a state institution, neither does it fit into any specific political ideology. He does not feel any obligations resulting from the privilege of possessing a national good either. In this case, one may rather talk about the poet distancing himself from noble ideas related to national independence and from Polish martyrology and national ideology. In Miłosz’s poetry, homeland is located in a clear manner – his homeland is, above all, the country where he spent his childhood and adolescence, an earthly Arcadia manifesting beauty and harmony of existence. He manifests exceptional sentiment towards Lithuania, the land which he originates from and which he feels a strong bond with. The homeland in a local dimension is visibly contrasted against the concept of universal homeland, which the author of the Poetic Treaty, often calls “land”. It is an area in Europe, but at the same time reaching beyond the borders of the old continent. It encompasses the whole world, which becomes “a great house”, a value in itself.

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