The aim of the article is to investigate the Roman correspondence by Cyprian Norwid. As far as this author is concerned the term: Roman correspondence can imply some different issues, like the letters written during Norwid’s four visits to the Eternal City within the space of the years 1844-1849, some later correspondence referring to Rome and expressing the author’s longing for this place, letters to the members of the Congregation of the Resurrection in Rome etc. There is also a category of correspondence in which Norwid poses as an ancient Roman using some Latin words or structures typical of Roman correspondence: such words as: Vale, Latin forms of expressing the date and place (ex. Lutetiae Parisiorum) or initial formulae including the greeting and the names of the addresser and addressee. There are also very interesting letters in which Norwid exactly identifies himself with Ovidius. Such Norwid’s letters connected with the ancient Rome is the main subject of this article. Most of them Norwid wrote in 1860s, when he most probably began to write letters with the mentioned elements. These letters result from some Norwid’s special sense of Roman identity, which is emphasised by the expression: Civis Romanus that Norwid used with regard to himself in some of these letters. The article analyses the way in which Norwid understood his “Roman identity” and why he was defining himself as a “Roman citizen”. The general conclusion is that such references in Norwid’s letters are connected with his sense of many-sided alienation. They are considerably different from the ,,Roman letters” written by Norwid, co-creating the romantic Rome of artists, in the years 1844-1849.
The aim of the article is to investigate the Roman correspondence by Cyprian Norwid. As far as this author is concerned the term: Roman correspondence can imply some different issues, like the letters written during Norwid’s four visits to the Eternal City within the space of the years 1844-1849, some later correspondence referring to Rome and expressing the author’s longing for this place, letters to the members of the Congregation of the Resurrection in Rome etc. There is also a category of correspondence in which Norwid poses as an ancient Roman using some Latin words or structures typical of Roman correspondence: such words as: Vale, Latin forms of expressing the date and place (ex. Lutetiae Parisiorum) or initial formulae including the greeting and the names of the addresser and addressee. There are also very interesting letters in which Norwid exactly identifies himself with Ovidius. Such Norwid’s letters connected with the ancient Rome is the main subject of this article. Most of them Norwid wrote in 1860s, when he most probably began to write letters with the mentioned elements. These letters result from some Norwid’s special sense of Roman identity, which is emphasised by the expression: Civis Romanus that Norwid used with regard to himself in some of these letters. The article analyses the way in which Norwid understood his “Roman identity” and why he was defining himself as a “Roman citizen”. The general conclusion is that such references in Norwid’s letters are connected with his sense of many-sided alienation. They are considerably different from the ,,Roman letters” written by Norwid, co-creating the romantic Rome of artists, in the years 1844-1849.
The ancient Rome belongs to the most important cultural sources of Norwid’s work. The aim of this article is to analyse the significance of the motif of gladiator in the writings of Norwid. The article examines poems Spowiedź [Confession] and Spartakus [Spartacus] and also fragments from other texts in which appear paraphrases of the well-known words that according to the popular opinions were used by gladiators to greet emperor: Ave, Caesar, morituri te salutant. The poet regarded bloody Roman circus games as a sign of deep depravity of the ancient Rome and a gladiator as an involuntary, heroic and lonely actor of them, who was aware of the moral degradation of the spectators. The motif of gladiator often functions in the works by Norwid as an exemplum used by him to speak about such problems of his time as: the role and status of a poet in the 19th century, Christian attitude towards apostatic civilization and the key issue of the truth. Norwid’s gladiator is often a poet, Christian and simultaneously Norwid himself.
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Starożytny Rzym należy do najważniejszych kulturowych źródeł twórczości C. Norwida. Jednym z symboli antycznej, pogańskiej Romy jest gladiator, który jednak nierzadko funkcjonuje też jako jej antyteza. Celem artykułu jest analiza znaczenia motywu gladiatora w pismach Norwida. W artykule omówione zostały wiersze Spowiedź oraz Spartakus, a także fragmenty innych tekstów, w których Norwid zamieścił parafrazy słynnego okrzyku, którym - według popularnego przekonania - gladiatorowie mieli pozdrawiać cesarza: Ave, Caesar, morituri te salutant. Poeta postrzegał krwawe igrzyska gladiatorskie jako wyraz głębokiego zepsucia i zła Rzymu, a gladiatora zazwyczaj jako ich mimowolnego, heroicznego, osamotnionego aktora, świadomego degradacji moralnej swoich widzów. Figura gladiatora to w pismach Norwida zazwyczaj egzemplum wykorzystywane w refleksji nad takimi, aktualnymi dla autora zagadnieniami, jak rola i status poety w rzeczywistości dziewiętnastowiecznej, postawa chrześcijańska wobec uwarunkowań apostatycznej cywilizacji, a także kluczowa dla tych nawiązań problematyka prawdy. Pod postacią Norwidowego gladiatora kryją się najczęściej poeta, chrześcijanin i siłą rzeczy też sam Norwid, łączący dwa wymienione przymioty.
The article aims to examine the tragedies: Ήρακλής μαινόμενος by Euripides and Hercules Furens by Seneca and exactly the different types of the madness, by which the main character is overcome in the above mentioned dramas. Although the article touches also on the issue of the insanity sent to the hero by Hera/ Juno, concentrates especially on the fit of madness, that is here defined as a human madness.
The article aims to examine how the motif of killing a child by one of his parents, regardless of the age of victim (abortion is however excluded from this analysis), functions in dramatic works (practicurally in tragedies) and why it can by treated as a special challenge to present this deed in mentioned type of literature. The analysis bases on the selected dramas — especially the Medea by Euripides. Many other characters noted derive also from the ancient Greek-Roman literature, that often refers to the mythology. At the end is also investigated, why Medea, though the motif of the killing own children is repellent and often not easy be presented, appears continuously in literature (not only in dramatic works).
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