„Na tej balladzie wszystko jest oparte”

Abstract

The dispute between the classicist Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński and the avant-gardist Józef Maśliński centered on the ideological and artistic form of poetic expression. Reconstructing their perspectives on poetry and their competitive approaches to poetic craft was grounded in viewing a poem as an aesthetically formed entity, partly autonomous and partly explicable through conscious artistic intentions. These intentions, integrated within the dynamics of literary evolution, reshaped and enriched the understanding of their of their creativity. Gałczyński’s classical Ballad of the Puppeteers’ Bridge, published in the ‘Literary Column Edited by Józef Maśliński’ in the ‘Kurier Wileński’ [‘Vilnius Courier’] (September 19, 1934), could be interpreted as substantiating evidence for the consistent reinforcement of his position as a neoclassicist. Unraveling the various meanings embedded in the dramatic story of the ballad’s heroine’s demise allows for the hypothesis that the poem encapsulates an allegory of art prevailing over malevolence.