W drodze do „magnetycznego punktu”
On the Way to “Magnetic Point”

Ryszard Krynicki’s Poetic Dialogues with Paul Celan and Nelly Sachs

Summary/Abstract: Spatial metaphor of “magnetic point” is a key formula of poetry writing in Ryszard Krynicki’s mature creativity. The author, who in the moment of his debut was connected with Nowa Fala (New Wave), with time more often and forcibly started speaking about the need of abandoning (or at least limiting) the social functions of poetry for taking part in the mystery of “sacred speech.” He strives for achieving such an act of creation and silence which would be transparent to what is absolute. The metaphor of “magnetic point” gives name to the poet’s growing desire to cross the borders of “the present day” and even further—the borders of perception—and to inhabit the core of sense. What supports it is a clear return to the tradition of symbolism and interest in neo-classicist dictions. Krynicki finds his guides on this way in Polish lyric poetry. Special role here is played by Zbigniew Herbert, and not less important are German lyric poets whom Krynicki translated: Paul Celan, Georg Trakl, Reiner Kunze, Friedrich Hölderlin, and Nelly Sachs. It is from the poem which starts with the incipit *** (“So kurz ausgeliefert ist der Mensch...”) (“Man suffers such short shrift”) that Krynicki adopted the metaphor of “magnetic point.” The article offers an attempt at describing some dialogues and correspondence between Krynicki’s quests and German lyric poetry, especially that by Sachs and Celan.

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