"Reduta Ordona". Rzeczywistość – historiozofia – mit
"Reduta Ordona" [Ordon’s Redoubt]. The truth – the myth – the history of philosophy

Author(s): Andrzej Fabianowski
Subject(s): Cultural history, Studies of Literature, Polish Literature, Philology, Theory of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Reduta Ordona; poems; Polish ethos; patriotism; struggle for independence; willingness to die; battle epic poem; catastrophic vision; myth; Stefan Garczyński
Summary/Abstract: "Reduta Ordona" [Ordon’s Redoubt] is one of the most widely recognised poems by Mickiewicz. The poem has frequently been referred to in literature and therefore it has become a sort of a myth which shows in a very apologetic and absurd manner the most crucial features of Polish ethos – patriotism, struggle for independence and the willingness to die for all these values. Being a miniature of a battle epic poem, Ordon’s Redoubt has been examined in terms of how closely Mickiewicz copied the reality of those military events. In many cases the reality presented in the poem turned out to be rather different from the historical truth – Ordon did not die from the explosion. Apart from historical inconsistencies, a dispute concerning the literal shape of the poem can also be triggered. Writing the poem, Mickiewicz used his own poetic experience but also S. Garczyński’s experience of romantic military attempts. Yet, he had gone far beyond the role models who inspired him, creating a powerful and universal catastrophic vision. Multiple perceptions of the myth, which Ordon’s Redoubt undoubtedly is, are the reasons for a number of different ideas to commemorate the place of the battle which itself becomes a metaphor of the fate of the entire world regardless of having no strictly defined boundaries as an area of the battle.

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