Descending to Hades as a Drama of Exile. In the Margin of Seven Sonnets to Persephone by Jerzy Stanisław Sito

Abstract

The author interprets the series of sonnets by Stanisław Jerzy Sito as a work that tackles the problem of exile. She points to the presence of the layer of the myth of Persephone and to the creations of the lyrical ego experiencing the tale. In the author’s opinion Sito uses demythologizing strategies aiming at reinterpretation of the mythical story. The author notices the presence of Biblical references: expulsion from Eden, Psalmic lamentations, the Book of Ezekiel and St Paul’s words as well as a dialogue with Adam Mickiewicz’s The Crimean Sonnets. Moreover, she point to parallels between the situation of the subject and that of Persephone – life as exile.