Justino Marcinkevičiaus ir Vlado Šlaito poliai: poetinio žodžio galimybės
The Capacities of Poetic Word: The Poles of Justinas Marcinkevičius and Vladas Šlaitas’ Poetry

Summary/Abstract: The article discusses the capacity of poetry to evoke emotions in two different ways – by using metaphors and with the help of laconic language. The hypothesis that the effect on the reader generated by both a thick poetic text and poetic speech purified to the maximum could be very similar is tested by employing the concepts of cognitive poetics in reading the chosen poetic texts and focussing on the cognitive processes presupposed by different sorts of metaphors. The main task is to discuss the phenomenon of iconicity and to explain particular effects caused by the poems written by two popular Lithuanian authors – Justinas Marcinkevičius and Vladas Šlaitas. The comparison of the chosen texts by the two poets suggests that iconicity is manifested not only in a thickly coded poetic text, but also in a laconic poem. The results of the analysis have shown that iconicity can be created not only by using original conceptual metaphors, but also by specific visual images, which can help the poet not only to say something, but also to show. It may be that iconicity is more pronounced in laconic poetry, because the atmosphere envelops the reader instantly categorizing, rather than diving among the so-called mental spaces and interpreting the meanings of metaphors. The visual impression is stronger, but in the field of a poetic text it is rather difficult to define what this visuality is. Apparently, it is worth to investigate how fast one or another impression occurs to the reader, and which of the two – a metaphor or a simple image selected accordingly – is faster in generating a specific mental image. It would seem that the priority should be given to simplicity, but without a study it can not be stated categorically. Most important thing is that a writer succeeds in provoking a specific emotional state. Marcinkevičius and Šlaitas knew how to do it, even though their creative principles differed significantly.

• Details
• Contents