Relations Between Wacław Potocki's Paradoxa Theologica and the Predicatory „News”

Abstract

The object of the interest of the author of the article is the problem of relations between preaching and the late-baroque religious poetry. On the example of a few Wacław Potocki's (1621-1696) works from the collection `Ogród nie plewiony' most often defined by the poet as `theological paradoxes' (paradoxa theologica), analogies are shown between poetry and the baroque religious rhetoric, first of all seen in the construction of the utterance, defined in baroque theory of poetry and prose as predicatory concept (conceptus praedicabilis, concetto predicabile). A confrontation of Potocki's epigrams with the late-baroque predicatory prose leads to the conclusion about only a partial imitation of the baroque concept-preachers' practice resulting from the poet's traditionalism and his unfavourable attitude towards his contemporary literary and predicatory `news'.