Mickiewiczowska głębia „miejsca”. Wertykalny charakter Soplicowa

Abstract

The shape of a circle, with its midpoint or centre, is one of the spatial images lying at the basis of many of the lyrical poems written by Adam Mickiewicz, including The Vision, Defend Me from Myself..., The Akkerman Steppes, Spin Love…, To Flee with My Love onto a Leaf [Leaves]... The motif of a circular shape with a clearly defined centre also appears in Master Thaddeus, and in Forefathers’ Eve. Mickiewicz the poet structures his works around the imagery of a circle and its centre to convey metaphorically what is of value to Mickiewicz the man. His ‘centric’ thinking puts the poet in the centre of an ontological, metaphysical vision of the cosmos, right in the centre, at the very core of the Universe, in its most profound, undiscovered depths. In this essay, we attempt to explicate Mickiewicz’s depiction of a man placed ‘in the centre of the firmament’ in the Crimean sonnets, the ‘Great Improvisation’ soliloquy in Forefathers’ Eve, in chosen lyrical poems, and in the Great Poem [Master Thaddeus] itself. From this perspective, the concepts of ‘space’ and ‘place’ attain exceptional depth.