Valuation of poetry in “Zarys literatury polskiej z ostatnich lat szesnastu” by Piotr Chmielowski. A handful of perspectives to consider

Abstract

The article analyses the mode of establishing and recording the process of poetry valuation in Zarys literatury polskiej z ostatnich lat szesnastu [An outline of the literature of the last sixteen years] written by Piotr Chmielowski, as well as the textual strategies of the author that modeled the transformations in the discourse of the author. It is proved in the article that in the Chmielowski’s disquisitions the problem of evaluation is just as important as the evaluation as a problem. The evaluation of poetry conducted by the critic was an element of self-identification of the generation of ”young poets” that he himself represented, as well as a proof for their longing for grand poetry, discomfort resulting from lack of authority figures and difficulties in expressing one’s own or/and national suffering. The use of the so-called ”argument of poetry” has been recognized here as a distinctive feature of Chmielowski’s idiolect that serves to dynamize his critical writings.