Paweł Moskała

Seeing the Other in Paul Celan’s “Schliere im Auge”

The following article aims to analyse the visual perception and the process of seeing, as presented in the poem Schliere im Auge (Ger. schlieren in the eye − optical inhomogenities in the transparent material of the eye). In his poem, Paul Celan articulates the Bewahrung function of poetry and transcendence, using terminology typical of metaphysics, medicine or phonetics. The poem features several of the many indicators of Celan’s hermetic poetry, which include: lexical conciseness, precise syntax, semantic variety, the dynamics of motion, the state of mind, cognitive ability, disturbed communication, the perception of the moment.

The article offers an attempt to present practical activities based on the structure of a poem for use in a foreign language classroom, coherent with the methodology of teaching through practical productive exercises, as well as on The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Paul Celan’s poem Ich hörte sagen presents a perfect research material because of its poetical structure, which may constitute a basis for the development of linguistic competences, as well as competences in literary text reading. The typology of activities built on Celan’s poem is preceded by an analysis of the role of literature in foreign language teaching and the status of poetry in the whole teaching process.
 

Although Hermann Hesse is perceived by his readers mainly as a prose writer, Paweł Moskała discloses Hesse’s other face, and draws his attention to Hesse’s poetry. In the article below Moskała reviews the array of the poet’s attitudes towards death.The author, analyzing the theme of death in Hesse’s poetry in various periods of his writing,concentrates on the evolution of poet’s attitudes, from existential-subjective to reflective. It should be underlined that the awareness of transience and theanticipation of death accompanied the poet during his whole life and in all his works, in which the desire to live interlaced with the humilitytowards death and the acceptance of volatility of life.