Marian Pankowski’s poetic art: between the Polish and the Francophone elements

Abstract

The literary output of Marian Pankowski (1919–2011) is rich in all literary genres. Nevertheless, relatively little has been written about his poetry, which is the subject of this study. Shaped by his personal experience, both as a human being and as a reader, Pankowski’s poems reflect the clash he faces every day, trying to master French and become part of the French-speaking world. In his carefully thought-out lyric form (alliterations, metaphors, similes), which is an explicit reference to the avant-garde and to the Skamander group, a group of experimental Polish poets, there is no place for the verbosity present in his prose. The analysis of some of Pankowski’s lesser-known or even unknown poems undertaken in this study proposes an alternative way of reading his poetic texts. The author of the article points out certain poetic images built upon a sensuous yet controlled perception of the world, based mainly on the senses of hearing and sight. The sense of touch, however, is completely suppressed, as if suggested by the heightened sense of sight. For the poet, his own corporeality is a taboo. He therefore seems to transpose it to the presented world. Pankowski’s poetry, wrongly associated only with his early works, is worth knowing. It is interesting, educational as well as visually and verbally intriguing. Artykuł Doroty Walczak-Delanois Marian Pankowski’s Poetic Art: Between the Polish and the Francophone Elements w języku polskim dostępny w: „Prace Polonistyczne” 2015, seria LXX, s. 233–259 (Dorota Walczak-Delanois, Sztuka poetycka Mariana Pankowskiego – między żywiołem polskim i frankofońskim).