Department of Historical Poetics

Sound and motion – avant-garde sound poetry

The paper examines different dimensions of motion in avant-garde sound poetry. Various techniques of accumulating sound within repetitive but not strictly regular verse arrangements alone may create impressions of movement, only partly identified within studies on versification. One may identify several strategies of using sound to “move” the poem (on various text levels) and of combining sound and typography in creating motion impressions. A proper description requires bringing together different perspectives: analysing the sound texture (phonostylistics, rhythm, sound symbolism) and some aspects of articulatory kinaesthetics (direct sensory modality of perception) as well as an extensive analysis of the visual organisation of the page.

Transcultural Convergence? Polish Artists and the Oriental Verbo-visuality

The article concerns different aspects of convergence processes of the traditional Oriental genres in the Polish culture, focusing on haiku, haiga and haibun. It examines book art, visual arts and the artistic websites. The theoretical frame of the research is rooted in the concept of transculturality introduced by Wolfgang Welsch. The author analyses Polish works of art employing different strategies of combining words and images, thereby showing unexpected similarities between cultures and revealing the artistic changes caused by the choice of different media. The investigation proves the most interesting compositions uncover unexpected common elements between apparently contradictory traditions, the necessary condition is, however, at least the basic knowledge of the Other.

Poetry of mindfulness — Czesław Miłosz and haiku

The article presents a multifaceted analysis of the underresearched complex relations of the works by Czesław Miłosz and the poetics and philosophical ‘legacy’ of haiku. Firstly, the author examines the haiku-like texts by Miłosz, focusing on sensual imagery employed by classical haijins and the Polish poet. The next section is devoted to re-interpretation of the metaliterary aspects of Miłosz’s texts concerning Far Eastern patterns of poetry. The final part deals with his translations of classical and contemporary haikus, confronting the work of Miłosz with the attempts of other translators and with original texts. The comparative analyses lead to a revision of the common opinions on Miłosz’s translations.

'New musicality'? Avant-Garde sound-texture of Polish poetry and its contemporary continuations

The article presents detailed analyses of the irregular sound organisation of the two wings of Polish interwar avant-garde poetry: futurism and the constructivist group Awangarda Krakowska. The starting point of the research is the ‘musicality’ of symbolist poetry, expanded and overcome by the avant-gardists. Members of both groups paid special attention to the acoustics of poetry creatively employing devices such as paronomasia, onomatopoeia, alliteration, anaphora etc. However, the futurist practice proved more complicated, more diverse and less consistent (sometimes even dada-like). The phonostylistics of Awangarda Krakowska, although still highly innovative, was more ‘disciplined’, logical and focused on motivating the metaphors by sounds. The experiments of both groups were revived in the Polish post-war poetry (especially in the currents such as poezja lingwistyczna and the present neolingwizm). It is usually impossible to discriminate between the futurist and constructivist inspirations in the post-war works: sound concepts typical of futurism tend to be used in a more logical, consistent and metaphor-centred way. Hence, the author introduces the term “new musicality” referring to the specific and still vivid poetics of sound, first employed by the Polish avantgardists.

The paper addresses the problem of originality and eclecticism in Polish Futurism, with a particular focus on poetic experiments with sound and visual organization of
texts. It presents concepts of ‘musicality’ in literary works of art, describes some of the Polish echoes of Marinettian Words-in-Freedom and examines some conspicuous
examples of hardly intelligible onomatopoeia and glossolalia. Comparative analyses of the ‘extreme’ examples of sound instrumentation reveal the complex, entangled relations between Polish Futurism, Italian and Russian Futurism and Dadaism. The literary output of Aleksander Wat, Anatol Stern, Bruno Jasieński, Tytus Czyżewski and Stanisław Młodożeniec is shown to be not only part of the avant-garde landscape of Europe but also to be rooted in literary tradition, especially Symbolism and Polish folklore. The study also presents some performative aspects of Polish literary Futurism,
concentrating on the poezokoncerty (poetry-concerts) – scandalizing evenings of poetry recitation. The fi nal part of the essay is dedicated to the visual dimension of
Futurist poetry in Poland. In many cases, the typographical layout of the texts accompanied
and ‘enhanced’ experimentation in the fi eld of sound instrumentation. As a case of exception to this rule I discuss the work of Czyżewski. The essay concludes
with the brief discussion of the Futurist legacy in Polish literature after the Second World War and proposes some answers to the question of originality vs. derivativeness
in poetic literature.

The article presents analyses of a numerous group of Polish contemporary poems which are close to genre determinants of haiku. The key categories of description are sensual mimesis and modern
epiphany. The author pays attention to the traps the poets producing the miniatures inspired by Japanese 17-syllable poems may fall into, which are, on the one hand, triviality and antitheticality of compositions, and, on the other hand, excessive (in the perspective of haiku) stylistic richness and intellectualisation of the pieces. The following parts of the sketch are devoted to the strategies of refreshing the poetics of the genre: defamiliarisation of perception, metaphorisation and conceptism. The
author also focuses on strictly semantic issues: using ambiguity, exploiting oriental topoi, transgressing the taboo of haiku – erotism, death. The final part of the paper provides an answer to the question
whether the authors of “most real” Polish haiku are continuators of Eastern tradition or epigones.

Haiku in Polish. Genology in the Transcultural Perspective

The book counts among comparative cultural studies. It presents a panorama of artistic phenomena of the broadly understood modernism: in Poland and, to an extent, in Western Europe and the Americas as well.
It is the first monograph of Polish poetry related to Japanese haiku miniatures. The author conducts a comprehensive analysis of lyric
poetry created over the course of more than a century (from the Young
Poland to the present), also touching upon problems of translatology and intersemiotics. The book describes texts strictly faithful to the rules of the genre, as well as compositions only oscillating around the prototype of the genre and also miniatures hiding old European literary forms under the trendy Oriental banner.

"Knife in the ear"? The concepts of sound in the Polish Futurist poetry

The book is a comparative study of some aspects of the Polish Futurist
poetics in the light of the European avant-garde practice and the Polish
literary tradition. The author describes and analyses sound structures in the poetry of the members of the Polish Futurist movement: Bruno Jasieński, Tytus Czyżewski, Aleksander Wat, Anatol Stern, Stanisław Młodożeniec. The analysis is concerned with phenomena such as: paronomasia, onomatopoeia, alliteration, anaphora etc. that can be collectively labelled as irregular sound organisation (as opposed to versification). The author focuses on similarities and differences of literary and linguistic forms, and not on genetic dependences between different avant-garde movements.

Word – Picture – Sound. Literature and Visual Arts
in the Polish Avant-garde 1918-1939


The book presents an extensive analysis of the main variants of the relation between literature and visual arts in the Polish avant-garde works and theories of art. The framework of the study is the concept of modernism in a broad sense. One of the crucial elements of such an understanding of the term is the role of intersemiotic experiments.
The first part of the book focuses on the works of Tytus Czyżewski who was both a member of the group of futurist poets and the group of painters called “Formiści”. One of the main problems discussed here is whether Czyżewski was really, as it is sometimes claimed, a “bilingual” avant-gardist who managed to create parallel works of comparably high quality in two artistic codes – those of literature and fine arts. The study examines several typographical works combining pictures and words, and aims to define the artistic method of Czyżewski, which I call “słowografia” (“wordgraphy”). A part of the analysis is devoted to the problem of collage in literature and visual arts. I also investigate the compositional and semantic parallels between the paintings and poems of Czyżewski, referring to formism, symbolism, Art Nouveau, surrealism, “national style” and the case of specific, dada-like “kompozycje wielopłaszczyznowe” (“multi-surface compositions”).
The study continues with the description of the theoretical and artistic legacy of two cooperating avant-gardists, members of the group “a. r.”, which was open both to men of letters and visual artists. I explore similarities between the ideas and works of a poet Julian Przyboś and a painter Władysław Strzemiński, and investigate the controversial issue of identyfing unism (strict formula for abstract painting introduced by Strzemiński) within literary structures. I also discuss different ways of constructivist visualisation of poetry in Strzemiński’s typographical interpretation of Przyboś’s volume of poetry entitled Sponad. The analysis reveals some features of Strzemiński’s work that have not been noticed yet e.g. its closeness to postwar concrete poetry. What is more, I confront Strzeminski’s practice with his own theory of typography and, by contrast, with the works of another Polish constructivist, Mieczysław Szczuka. The study also raises the problem of the relation between the work of art and the comment of its author. The last  issue is the contemporary reception of the avant-garde experiments in the field of poetry and typography.
The third part of the book is devoted to the works of Franciszka and Stefan Themerson. I analyse avant-garde films of the couple in the light of modernist visual arts and, to some extent, literature. The most detailed analysis focuses on two works, which, as I claim, can be viewed as closely linked to poetry: Europa (and its postwar reconstruction) and The Eye and the Ear. I examine the problem of cinematographic visualisation of metaphors and some other figures of speech. Moreover, I present the Themersons’ art of typography (including book illustration) done for their publishing house Gaberbocchus Press and the early experiments in typography in books for children written by Stefan and illustrated by Franciszka.
I do not seek one general formula that would enable the examination of all types of intersemiotic connections. On the contrary, I am convinced that each example of theoretical or practical relations between different arts and artists working in different fields (especially in the modernist era) requires a separate detailed investigation. My aim is to present a wide range of interwar interactions between literature and visual arts, which seems to be one of the most significant ways of describing Polish modernism.

Word – Picture – Sound. Literature and Visual Arts
in the Polish Avant-garde 1918-1939


The book presents an extensive analysis of the main variants of the relation between literature and visual arts in the Polish avant-garde works and theories of art. The framework of the study is the concept of modernism in a broad sense. One of the crucial elements of such an understanding of the term is the role of intersemiotic experiments.
The first part of the book focuses on the works of Tytus Czyżewski who was both a member of the group of futurist poets and the group of painters called “Formiści”. One of the main problems discussed here is whether Czyżewski was really, as it is sometimes claimed, a “bilingual” avant-gardist who managed to create parallel works of comparably high quality in two artistic codes – those of literature and fine arts. The study examines several typographical works combining pictures and words, and aims to define the artistic method of Czyżewski, which I call “słowografia” (“wordgraphy”). A part of the analysis is devoted to the problem of collage in literature and visual arts. I also investigate the compositional and semantic parallels between the paintings and poems of Czyżewski, referring to formism, symbolism, Art Nouveau, surrealism, “national style” and the case of specific, dada-like “kompozycje wielopłaszczyznowe” (“multi-surface compositions”).
The study continues with the description of the theoretical and artistic legacy of two cooperating avant-gardists, members of the group “a. r.”, which was open both to men of letters and visual artists. I explore similarities between the ideas and works of a poet Julian Przyboś and a painter Władysław Strzemiński, and investigate the controversial issue of identyfing unism (strict formula for abstract painting introduced by Strzemiński) within literary structures. I also discuss different ways of constructivist visualisation of poetry in Strzemiński’s typographical interpretation of Przyboś’s volume of poetry entitled Sponad. The analysis reveals some features of Strzemiński’s work that have not been noticed yet e.g. its closeness to postwar concrete poetry. What is more, I confront Strzeminski’s practice with his own theory of typography and, by contrast, with the works of another Polish constructivist, Mieczysław Szczuka. The study also raises the problem of the relation between the work of art and the comment of its author. The last  issue is the contemporary reception of the avant-garde experiments in the field of poetry and typography.
The third part of the book is devoted to the works of Franciszka and Stefan Themerson. I analyse avant-garde films of the couple in the light of modernist visual arts and, to some extent, literature. The most detailed analysis focuses on two works, which, as I claim, can be viewed as closely linked to poetry: Europa (and its postwar reconstruction) and The Eye and the Ear. I examine the problem of cinematographic visualisation of metaphors and some other figures of speech. Moreover, I present the Themersons’ art of typography (including book illustration) done for their publishing house Gaberbocchus Press and the early experiments in typography in books for children written by Stefan and illustrated by Franciszka.
I do not seek one general formula that would enable the examination of all types of intersemiotic connections. On the contrary, I am convinced that each example of theoretical or practical relations between different arts and artists working in different fields (especially in the modernist era) requires a separate detailed investigation. My aim is to present a wide range of interwar interactions between literature and visual arts, which seems to be one of the most significant ways of describing Polish modernism.

The intermedial and interactive in interwar Poland? The book art of Franciszka and Stefan Themerson. The article discusses interactivity and intermediality in the output of the Polish avant-garde artists Franciszka and Stefan Themerson. The author claims that their two-dimensional works created in the 1930s and addressed at children are early examples of interactive strategies activating young readers in search for understanding of the modern world. Non-traditional illustrations, experimental typography and texts far from 'classical' literature for children form inseparable verbo-visual entities (named 'wordgraphy') where words and images are of equal importance. What happens between the engaged media proves most interesting and most innovative.

An analysis of Gombrowicz's attitude towards science shows that it is based on an oxymoron: science does not lead to real knowledge about the world, but “muddles” and “reduces”. Gombrowicz was very much aware of the opposition between art and science, yet he was not prepared to accept the early modernist idea of “art for art's sake”. He perceived in

An analysis of Gombrowicz's attitude towards science shows that it is based on an oxymoron: science does not lead to real knowledge about the world, but “muddles” and “reduces”. Gombrowicz was very much aware of the opposition between art and science, yet he was not prepared to accept the early modernist idea of “art for art's sake”. He perceived in

An analysis of Gombrowicz's attitude towards science shows that it is based on an oxymoron: science does not lead to real knowledge about the world, but “muddles” and “reduces”. Gombrowicz was very much aware of the opposition between art and science, yet he was not prepared to accept the early modernist idea of “art for art's sake”. He perceived in