A Knife in a Poem – Exponents of Różewicz’s Non-seriousness

The authors analyse the poem by Tadeusz Różewicz, nożyk profesora [professor’s knife] (2001). They deal with the exponents of non-seriousness in this work due to the space of the poem (complicated by the reproduction of the rough draft), the elements of the language of the text, and the resulting gesture of the speaking subject. The non-seriousness becomes a figure of distance that saves from the categorical phraseology, breaks out of the rhythm, as well as of disregard, and is a form of counteracting the destructive power of time shown by the figure of rust. By placing the final text and the draft next to each other, the poet constantly breaks down the arrangements made both by himself and by the characters of the work and by its recipients. Among the verse exponents of the non-seriousness, one can see first of all verse syntagmas with their internal dynamics of additions, which are ultimately not more accurate, and sometimes are funny. With all its internal contradiction, nożyk profesora serves to document the admiration for the described figure of the Professor (Porębski), and also to keep the image of the past, the cruel 20th century, in the memory with the use of the title tool.

A Knife in a Poem – Exponents of Różewicz’s Non-seriousness

The authors analyse the poem by Tadeusz Różewicz, nożyk profesora [professor’s knife] (2001). They deal with the exponents of non-seriousness in this work due to the space of the poem (complicated by the reproduction of the rough draft), the elements of the language of the text, and the resulting gesture of the speaking subject. The non-seriousness becomes a figure of distance that saves from the categorical phraseology, breaks out of the rhythm, as well as of disregard, and is a form of counteracting the destructive power of time shown by the figure of rust. By placing the final text and the draft next to each other, the poet constantly breaks down the arrangements made both by himself and by the characters of the work and by its recipients. Among the verse exponents of the non-seriousness, one can see first of all verse syntagmas with their internal dynamics of additions, which are ultimately not more accurate, and sometimes are funny. With all its internal contradiction, nożyk profesora serves to document the admiration for the described figure of the Professor (Porębski), and also to keep the image of the past, the cruel 20th century, in the memory with the use of the title tool.