Zbigniew Herbert's Na marginesie procesu (Side-notes about a Trial)

Abstract

Questions concerning the poem „Na marginesie procesu” and the misunderstandings connected with it are the author's point of departure for an analysis concentrated on the position of the voice that is talking. The researcher stresses the double role of the talking subject: he is at the same time an observer and a commenting sceptic. Introduction of the category of „lyricism of the role” allows to clearly separate the real author from the subject talking in the poem. It is also a tool that allows grasping the poet's technique of keeping his distance intellectually and emotionally to „easy” interpretations of the evangelical truths. The accepted attitude also allows moving the stress from the interpretative ambitions of the poem to the convictions of the acute nature of human existence that are inherent in the poem.