| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of the investigation undertaken in the monograph was an
attempt at a precursory interpretation of the literary output of Wincenty
Byrski (1870–1939) – an unknown poet from the Podbeskidzie region.
His extensive and diverse work emerging from the assumptions of local
modernism and applying impressionist and symbolic techniques in the
area of subject matter, refers to biographical motifs (little motherland,
family village and family home), as well as social, historiosophical,
patriotic and religious issues.
In order to characterize the semantic-lexical level of the poems, the
author used research tools of contemporary stylistics and the descriptive
method, including the anthropological perspective. The reconstruction
of the linguistic image of the world illustrated in the work of Wincenty
Byrski consisted in the linguistic-stylistic analysis of the texts, including
the semantics of excerpted lexemes and phraseological units, the
purpose of which was to establish semantic groups and chains of
synonymous words, comment on their meanings and collocations, as
well as determine the expressive marking and stylistic value. In order
to establish the meaning of words at that time, as well as their use in
different varieties of the Polish language, the lexicons with vocabulary
and phraseology of the last decade of the 19th century and the first
decades of the 20th century proved very helpful. In some cases it was
also necessary to carry out a morphological analysis of derivatives,
which made it possible to assess which word-formation categories and
reality arrangement methods were the closest to the poet from Kozy.
Sometimes it was also necessary to consider the etymology of native
words and determine the origins of foreign words, which was facilitated
by appropriate lexicons.
Bearing in mind the specificity of artistic language relating mostly
to texts of autotelic function, it was important to remember about
an equally significant referential function. Thanks to it, the author
of a literary work, by creating the represented world, has the chance
to refer continually to the extralinguistic reality, including all the
components, both old and contemporary.
Such poetic references to selected people, places and events
determined the way of systematizing and describing the linguistic
material derived from the texts. This material was first subject to an
overview from the perspective of idiolectal traits of the writer, which
were distinguished against the background of systemic features of the
Polish language at the turn of the centuries. Next, as if based on the
chronological criterion, a linguistic reconstruction of the ‘clotted’ image
of the world in the analyzed poems was carried out. It included the
most important (according to the poet) components: the character of
a mother, and – to a noticeably lesser extent – the character of a father,
the image of a family home and little motherland, i.e. a village in
Podbeskidzie, along with characteristic buildings, cult places, elements
of country landscape, views from Podbeskidzie and the Tatras, as well
as mountainous nature, the picture of Cracow with its monuments from
the period which preceded the regaining of sovereignty, the image
of the Jasna Góra Monastery, including the miraculous icon, finally
the nation during the Partitions and war struggles for independent
existence. According to Byrski, not only family and nature, but also local
and national patriotism, played a significant role, which was reflected
in many of his works. A constant point of reference in many of his
reflections was the Christian perspective, which is visible in his works
completely dedicated to religious issues, especially the poem about the
life and martyr’s death of Jesus of Nazareth.
The monograph devoted to the unknown writer is closed by two
chapters focusing comprehensively on selected poetic traces excerpted
from the whole literary output of Wincenty Byrski, regardless of its
thematic diversity. Both the study on lexical means referring to sensual
perception, and the chapter illustrating the creativity of the writer in
the area of comparative structures, are the complement to linguistic
remarks on his poetic technique and linguistic sensitivity.
It cannot be denied that the poet, who came from a rural background
and was a railway worker (by education and profession), must have
been a remarkable person in terms of the skills in using verse, as
well as his knowledge of the world literature and archival materials.
It is confirmed not only by his great language culture (testified by
preserved manuscripts), from the graphic level, through inflectional
subsystem to morphological and syntactic layers. Surprisingly enough,
the writer’s vocabulary includes: words typical of the old period (e.g.
chram, gon, jaśń, kierz, gwieździarz, głaźnie), foreign (frequently exotic)
expressions (e.g. magrefa, nard, onychina, roztruchan, samum, sardiusz,
szpikandardowy) and native words which are limited to particular
regions (e.g. harny, króbka, zberczeć), or stylistically restricted (e.g.
pustać, ścieża, zaobłoczny) in terms of usage. It was with undeniable
mastership that he created poetic neologisms, replication or outdated
word-formation models (like barcica, niezaradczość, powiecze, spławnia,
ugorzywo, potworczy, jałowuchy, zaojczyźnić), or fulfilling exquisite
compositional patterns (e.g. wiatrosiej, śnieżnoruny, wonnowłosy,
złotogrzywy, tęczoskrzydlny).
As for the topics which Byrski concentrates on, it is worth paying
attention to the content variety of his works, ranging from local, private,
humorous and simple issues, to frequent references to significant events,
historical figures and places that are particularly important for the sense
of national identity. The writer was also fascinated by atmospheric
phenomena and keen on describing mountainous landscapes. In these
contexts he had a tendency towards historiosophical or existential
considerations. Byrski’s repertoire is admirable: poetic forms (with
a clear preference for sonnets), verse layout (with a significant part
played by terza rima and octave), metric measurements, as well as
collections of literary topoi and stylistic tropes (epithets, comparisons,
metaphors, symbols, metonymy and synesthesia). Bearing in mind the
works connected with folk tradition and the Tatra poems, as well as the
tendency towards reflecting momentary, ephemeral impressions tyical
of impressionist techniques, or the skilful use of light and sound effects,
undoubtedly, the writer can be perceived as the continuator of Young
Poland traditions, attributed mainly to K. Tetmajer, T. Miciński and
L. Staff. As for the ways in which urban, war and religious topics are
approached by Byrski, they elicit associations with the literary output
of W. Orkan, E. Zegadłowicz and J. Kasprowicz.
Poetic works wtritten by Wincenty Byrski, regardless of the
importance of the topic or literary inspiration, are always accompanied
by excellent sense of style, while the choice of linguistic means,
characterized by eloquence and sensitivity of the author, is carefully
thought out. Thanks to these features, the Polish language used in the
analyzed texts perfectly illustrates the ways of perceiving old reality by
the poet from the Podbeskidzie region, reveals the systems of his values
and life course, at the same time being a suggestive testimony to the
morality of the bygone era. | en |
