On the intonation-rhetoric role of Norwid’s punctuation

Abstract

Polish Romantic poets, as Konrad Górski reminded us, used punctuation in the intonation function. Norwid’s creative work coincides with the time when attempts to standardize punctuation and to introduce new syntactic rules are made. For this reason the issue of the function of Norwid’s punctuation cannot be decided as easily as in case of the three great national poets of Poland. In the original version of poems by the author of “Vade-mecum” some disturbing places can be found, where the use of a punctuation mark cannot be explained in terms of syntax. On the other hand, punctuation marks are justified when they are treated as tools that form the sound layer of the text. This role of the marks is especially important in the poem “Rzecz o wolności słowa” (On Freedom of Speech), which Norwid prepared to be read in a public lecture. By means of punctuation marks the poet included in the text indications about how to read it. This is exactly why modifications and cases of modernization of punctuation made by publishers and editors are not indifferent for the artistic form of Norwid’s works.