Norwid’s dialogues of things

Abstract

The article presents the problems of Norwid’s things based on a selection of works written in various phases of the poet’s life (Wieczór w pustkach (fantazja), Toast. Fantazja, Bajka, [Na „Kazanie Skargi” Jana Matejki], [O, jakże drogim jest klejnotem], [Miło być od swojego czasu zrozumianym], Garstka piasku. Legenda, Krakus. Tragedia, Za kulisami. Fantazja) in which things have the status of talking heroes, capable of entering into dialogues or quasi-dialogues. A literary and anthropological analysis of the above material allowed us to observe the mediating role of things in the poetic world of Norwid. The poet lends them the status of a material sign of the spiritual basis of reality, Divine transcendence, Truth; he makes them means of expression of the human self, their content, structure and acts; he entrusts the things with functions typical of the tools of social interaction, initiation, ritualistic activities of individual and collective identity. The evolution of the poet’s views on the world of things is noteworthy, namely the transition from the imagination of things animated by the power of the spiritual to the imagination threatened by the objectification of the human being.