Problem tajemnicy poezji w edukacji szkolnej

Abstract

The motive of mystery is present in the reflections on the poetry of great poets and literary theoreticians and critics, such as T.S. Eliot, S. Heaney, H. Friedrich or H. Bremond. This phenomenon is analysed in more detail in the article “Metaphysics of poetry” by A. Tyszczyk, who states the importance of this fact, owing to which poetry acquires the status of metaphysical reality. It seems necessary, then, to take this issue into account also in school teaching. To do so, situations would have to be created in which pupils, having reached a certain level of reading competence for poetry, would encounter texts which, despite taking appropriate analytical and interpretational actions, would remain incomprehensible. One example of a text suitable for such educational activities is the poem by U. Kozioł, “Escape from Egypt”. The structure of the poem offers different interpretational possibilities, yet none of them is fully justified; what is more, they depreciate each other. As a result, pupils face the phenomenon of mystery of poetry, and at the same time they realize that they are dealing with a valuable poetic text, and that their inability to fully interpret it is one of its advantages. Such a situation provides a possibility to see the mystery of poetry as an epistemological category, which offers an opportunity to experience the metaphysical dimension of poetry.