„Śmiech nosimy – i ból”. O jednym wierszu Władysława Sebyły
“We carry the laughe – and pain”. On a Poem by Władysław Sebyła

Author(s): Iwona Gralewicz-Wolny
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Literary Texts, Studies of Literature, Polish Literature, Philology, Theory of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Summary/Abstract: The article concerns the untitled poem by Władysław Sebyła ***[inc. “We Are But Manure, My Brother…”] from the volume Młyny. Sonata nieludzka (The Songs of a Rat Catcher). The author aims her analysis at searching for a more positive tone of description and a more optimistic vision of the world, which – as many studies devoted to Sebyła’s poetry show – appear extremely rarely. Through her use of close reading, the author reconstructs the interplay of light and darkness which occurs in the poem. The author juxtaposes the loneliness of the lyrical I with the relationship the subject develops with the addressee of the lyrical monologue, sees glimpses of hope in the mortal metaphors, and connects the spatial-temporal dimension presented in the poem with the spheres of both life and death. This polarization of dark and light meanings of the text, exemplified by such analysis, is further reinforced by the antithesis-dominated poetics of the text. The catastrophic vision of the human life portrayed in the poem is, therefore, complemented by the subtle optimism, which remains necessary for th complete picture of the poet’s vision.

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