“The Shape of Love”: Norwid on Culture

Abstract

The article's main thread begins with Norwid's celebrated definition of beauty as “the shape of love”. The definition points to love as the efficient cause of beauty. Basing on his interpretations of Norwid's texts, the author argues that in the poet's view love is also the efficient cause of art in the broad sense and even, albeit in a somewhat different way, of culture at large. If human culture is to be truly human, it must also draw its origins from love; it must be “the shape of love”.