The „Value” o f the Word in a Poetic Text

Abstract

The article describes the concept of a particular property of the word in a poetic text, characterized as its „value” . According to the author, the word acquires its value through a hermeneutic process of understanding the text i.e. the reader’s recognizing its meanings. In accordance with postromantic hermeneutic tradition (H. G. Gadamer, P. Ricoeur), a literary text is an ahistorical, autonomous discourse independent of the author’s intention, the meaning of which is constructed by readers each time it is read, depending on their intellectual horizons and linguistic and cultural competence. Included in this competence is the knowledge of intertextual relations with other texts, which constitutes the so-called intertextual meaning of linguistic signs, part of connotation.

Through a few examples from modern Polish poetry (Cz. Milosz, J. Polkowski, B. Maj), the author shows in what way the reader s knowledge of this intertextual meaning leads to the creation of word value.