Pies też… gwiazda
A dog is also… a star

The motif of a dog in Jan Andrzej Morsztyn "Kanikuła" against astronomical literary tradition

Author(s): Agata Starownik
Subject(s): Cultural history, Studies of Literature, Polish Literature, 16th Century, 17th Century, 18th Century, Theory of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Jan Andrzej Morsztyn; Kanikuła; Sirius; dog; astronomy in literature
Summary/Abstract: The text analyses the use of dog motifs, Sirius – the “Dog Star” and the dog days of summer in Jan Andrzej Morsztyn’s "Kanikuła" in reference to astrological tradition. It recalls the most important elements of knowledge about Sirius in old culture and describes how they are used by Morsztyn. The author explores the poem Denomination and shows how the poet refers to the impact Sirius has on weather, people and dogs in other poems. Morsztyn shows dogs and the “dog star” in such a way that he blurs the boundaries between astronomical and religious sky, the heaven and the earth, man and animal. He sees dogs more as culture heroes than elements of nature, and he recalls them to create brilliant poetic games in which he half-jokingly testifies to his liking of skepticism, hedonism, sensualism, naturalism and erotism. In "Kanikuła", Sirius becomes a secular, natural deity, representing nature together with biological human desires. Yet, at the same time, he is an element of a literary game, which allows the poet to provoke and manifest scandalous ideas under the cover of play and seemingly not seriously.

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