Death is almost omnipresent in the poetry of Wladyslaw Broniewski. Taking into account this dominant theme as well as the idea of body-mind dualism this essay develops two complementary models of Broniewski's poetics of the dead body. According to the first model the body must be destroyed for the 'fiery thought' inside to flee and seek another incarnation. Although hindered by the sheer obstruction of matter, the process is repeated again and again with more bodies being destroyed. This cyclic movement will continue until the completion of time, when history will eventually give way to timeless bliss. Meanwhile, the dead bodies oppress the poet with their compelling presence and make him produce poetry which relays their message in a coherent, generally accessible form. At the same time, however, Broniewski follows another model of poetry, in which the haunting bodily presences tempt him with promises of distraction and dissolution (in the world at large, in the country, or some kind of intoxication). This captivating allure defies coherent poetic expression and results in what has been termed 'clumsy verse', which dominates in Broniewski's post-war output.
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