On bold and non-bold metaphors of history in Norwid’s poetry (transl. by Tadeusz Karłowicz)

Abstract

The Author discusses the issue of metaphors of history in Norwid's poetry, putting them in a broader context of reflections on the poetics of tropes used by the author of Vade-mecum. Starting with an analysis of the situation in the state of research into Norwid's works, in which almost nothing has been written about tropes, or their role has been underestimated, the Author puts forward the thesis that a characteristic feature of Norwid's metaphors is the peculiarly understood “invisibleness” (subtlety, discreetness).

An analysis of Norwid's historical metaphors made in the article reveals one of the dimensions of invisibleness – it refers to the semantic processes occurring in the metaphor. The Author divides tropes into two groups: semantically bold expressions whose meaning is difficult to establish and is diffused in indefiniteness; and semantically “not-bold” expressions directing the cognitive process happening in the metaphor. The former group is represented by only one expression: the eccentric metaphor “niedoperz-dziejów” (“bat-of-history”) from the poem Do Walentego Pomiana Z, and the latter one by nearly 70 metaphors. The Author proves that Norwid's metaphor gives up the semantic eccentricity and creationism in favor of axiological and epistemological aims. In this way its semantic expressiveness is reduced in the text, tending towards the pole of invisibleness.