Daemon Est Deus Inversus. God's Adversary in Czesław Miłosz's poetry

Abstract

The figure of Satan – God's challenger in the Old Testament – recurs in the poetry by Czesław Miłosz from the very early works until the very last ones. In the poem which he wrote in his youth, entitled Wiersze dla opętanych [Poetry for the Obsessed], Satan is depicted as an alternative for the powerless and absent God. In the poem Ksiądz Ch. po latach [Father Ch. after many years], the Ruler of the Material World wields his power over the incarnated humans, who are subject to the rules of the material world, on a par with all other created beings. The poem Ogrodnik [The Gardener] provides an explanation of an idea of the Father, who grants human beings a choice to make mistakes. Although full of concern about the fate of His creations, God does not intervene with human actions. All in all, as the lyrical subject in the poem Jeden i wiele [The One and the many] points out, even if God does not make his presence overt in the world ruled by its demonic Prince, the Creator keeps the world and the human being in His hand. Ultimately, He engages into a ruthless struggle for human souls against the forces of the dark.