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

Abstract

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

• twentieth century slovak poetry
• poetic device
• animals in poetry
• milan rúfus
• miroslav válek
• ján buzássy
• janko silan
• anna ondrejková
• katarína džunková