Żywioł pieśni
The element of songs

Author(s): Aleksander Nawarecki
Subject(s): Polish Literature, Philology
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Summary/Abstract: The main problematic of this essay is understanding the title phrase – “the element of songs.” The starting point in this discussion is the Romantic aesthetic, and its tendency to combine art with the forces of nature, as well as the then popular category of the sublime. A deeper insight is provided by the entry “Song” in the Dictionary of Polish Literature of the 19th century, whose author, Marek Piechota, points to the elusiveness of the genre suspended between music and literature, as well as its turbulent history. The dictionary entry is complemented by a literal approach to the “element,” recalled in relationship between the Romantic song and the four basic elements of the cosmos (water, air, earth, fire).

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