ZVIERA AKO NÁSTROJ V KRESŤANSKY ORIENTOVANEJ SPIRITUÁLNEJ POÉZII

• Authors: Gavura Ján

Title variants

EN

Animal as a tool and poetic device in Christian-based spiritual poetry

• Languages of publication: SK

Abstracts

EN

The immediate connection between animals and humans became the basis for a long-lasting and highly structured relationship which also found its place in art and poetry. Slovak poetry uses animal elements with great intensity and variety taking into account a number of aspects: human dependency on nature as environment; the animal ancestry of humans on the one hand and exceptional qualities and faculties that distinguish humans from animals; the hierarchical ordering of the world based on the evolutionary progression leading to the superiority of the human. Examples from Slovak Christian-based spiritual poetry show that animal elements are most commonly used for defining the human character and for testing moral values. Less common, although still numerous, are poems with de-humanized depictions of people that reveal a possible crisis of an individual or of society. Spiritual poetry also reveals a hidden tension between the declared high value of nature and the inherent anthropocentrism of both art and Christian religion which outline clear hierarchies.

Keywords

EN

SLOVAK POETRY; ANIMALS; SPIRITUAL POETRY; CHRISTIAN RELIGION

• Publisher: Institute of Slovak Literature, Slovak Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Slovenská literatúra (Slovak Literature)
• Year: 2023
• Volume: 70
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 133 - 150

Contributors

author

Gavura Ján

• Filozofická fakulta Prešovskej univerzity v Prešove, Ulica 17. Novembra 1, 080 01 Prešov, Slovak Republic

• https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6662-9931

Identifiers

DOI

https://doi.org/10.31577/slovlit.2023.70.2.2