Romanticism as a “Travelling” Notion of Literary Criticism. Discourse about Poetry after 1956

Abstract

The paper analyzes various ways of using historical-literary notions employed ad hoc by literary criticism in subsequent discourses over the second half of the 20th century. Three critical program texts which initiated debates about the role of poetry and dominating poetics after 1956 are analyzed. Similarities in terms of structures and strategies of poetry critics who referred to the romanticism/classicism dichotomy are identified, at the same time revealing significant program differences expressed using the same notions.