Józefa Kunicka-Synowiec

The article contributes to the analysis of angelology in the works of Miron Białoszewski. The author concentrates her attention on defining the meaning of the angel motive in the selected texts of the poet. She reveals the process, typical for this writer, of integrating the biblical and contemporary worlds and introducing on equal rights the elements of the reality known from everyday experience. Białoszewski treats Jewish-Catholic tradition selectively. He refers to images imprinted in the Holy Bible but, at the same time, exceeds stereotype presentations. By depicting angels among earthly realities, he polemises with the Christian concept of their nature and creates a specific quasi-apocryphe based on the holy history. The symbolic ambiguity of angel figure allows to, among others, formulate pars pro toto a vision about the religious provenance. Angels appear as the tools for description of another, spiritual reality and mystical experiences.

The article makes an attempt to examine two plays by Krystyn Ostrowski based on hagiographic motifs. Święty Wojciech męczennik [Saint Adalbert the Martyr] presents the history of the Bishop of Prague from the noble familyoftheSlavniks, beginning from his miraculous healingin his infancy and ending with his martyrdom. The text Święta Elżbieta Węgierska [Saint Elizabeth of Hungary] shows such episodes as the arrival of the juvenile Hungarian princess to the Wartburg Castle, her marriage with Ludwig, the miracle of change of bread into roses, the exile and death of the saint. Although the portraits of Wojciech and the duchessof Thuringia were built in reference to earlier hagiographic works devoted to them, and therefore, essentially, to conventionalized elements of hagiographies, Ostrowski actually creates a modern image of the saints. He has also consistently connected the structure of vita with the scheme of passio, while the miracula were only used slightly. The characters, stripped of magnificence and pathos, have been brought somewhat closer to the level of perception typical to a 19th-century reader or viewer.

The author of the article recalls a forgotten Biblical drama by Krystyn Ostrowski, concentrating on two characters constituting the centre of the scenic microcosm – Mary Magdalene and Judas. Analyzing appropriate fragments of the work, she points out creative modifications of evangelic threads.
In his work, Krystyn Ostrowski broadens the Biblical perspective by aspects which had earlier been nonexistent in the tradition – for example, he shows some events from Mary Magdalene’s perspective and makes a characteristic shift: he puts the repentant woman almost in the centre of the mysteries of the Passion. Mary Magdalene is therefore shown as an apostle, a hermit, a bride of Jesus, a witness of His resurrection, as well as a woman receiving the grace of salvation. The playwright gives his characters personality traits their evangelic prototypes did not have. In his approach, Judas cannot be perceived only in connection with his betrayal. Ostrowski essentially preserves the evangelic message, frequently condensing the Biblical meanings, senses and Biblical references, as well as placing accents differently. Thus emerges a more complex, multi-dimensional picture.

The article presents an attempt to discuss the approach to characters of saints (Myron, John of the Cross, Teresa of Ávila, Cecilia, Dorothea) in assorted lyrical works by Miron Białoszewski. It has been shown that the author of Rozkurz refers to the Judeo-Christian tradition, but also renews it in a creative way, transposing the religious symbolic to modern reality. An existential and anthropologic perspective is predominant in the presentation of the saints, which has been expressed in the analysis of the referenced works. In Tryptyk pionowy, special emphasis has been put to physical work as a source of sanctification of a human.

The text is an attempt to look at the traces of the presence of Jesus in the Biblical drama Maria Magdalena. Attention has been paid, in particular, to the account of John the Apostle who had been a direct witness of the deeds of the Master from Nazareth, e.g. during the calming of the storm in the Sea of Galilee. One can fi nd much theological depth in the words of Ostrowski’s heroes. Christ is not only the Saviour, the Messiah, a giver of light, a miracle worker, a healer, but also a man who knows how to speak to a crowd, to win the favour of people, and, having heard of the death of Lazarus, he cries in sorrow. Jesus is viewed differently by his opponents who do not conceal their dislike for the prophet from Nazareth. Expressing their criticism, they simultaneously bear witness to Christ’s deeds, becoming his witnesses.
Ostrowski transforms the Biblical motifs, dramatizes them to a larger degree and reaches for romantic imagery; he also often downplays the pompous, solemn tone, e.g. through irony. He departs from the canonical view of John as a hot-tempered man, but simultaneously he shows how this apostle lived on the truth of God. In the scene just before the crucifixion, the playwright introduces a Jesus’ letter to Judas, therefore referencing apocryphal traditions. According to the spirit of the epoch, he seamlessly combines various elements, yet creates a Christian vision of the world as a result.

The article concentrates on the works by Maurycy Gosławski undertaking a broadly understood religious subject matter and analyses their various relations with the Judeo-Christian tradition with the Bible in its centre. The author of Podole writes, among others, on the Old Testament flood, God as a stern Judge who punishes the apostates, as well as the theme of the cross of Christ. Typical literary devices include semantic references to a Biblical event, descriptions of situations or characters, occasional quotations, and the new context only slightly modifies the meaning of the referenced images. Gosławski usually writes approvingly on the Christian traditions, does not question any dogmas neither modify the theological message. Heroes of his text undertake polemics with God relatively rarely. The poet-lancer conveys the diagnosis of man and the image of the Almighty shown in the Holy Scripture to his own works – one can state this is literature of kerygmatic assent. However, it is ideological and aesthetical dominants of Romanticism (including Messianic ideas) which influence the final significance of Biblical threads. The poetic devices result in sublimation and positive axiologization of individual elements of the presented world.