Slovenska Literatura (Dec 2015)
Poet in Time. Ján Poničanʼs Poetry between 1929 and 1942.
Abstract
The goal of the paper is to show evolutionary transformations and identifications of Ján Poničan´s poetic gesture in the most important period of his work i.e. time from the 1ate 1920s till the early 1940s. The paper follows Ján Poničan´s poetic evolution against a background of his individual collections of poems published after his debut book: Demontáž (Disassembly, 1929), Večerné svetlá (Evening Lights, 1932), Angara (1934), Póly (The Poles, 1937), Divný Janko (Janko the Weirdo, 1941) and Sen na medzi (Dreaming in a Furrow, 1942). What is characteristic is the gradual transformation of his poetic form and expression and his departure from the Avant-garde poetics towards the Neosymbolist poetics and original Romantic sources. While the collections of poems Demontáž and Angara develop the revolutionary and activist line of Poničan´s poetic gesture, they draw inspiration from movements such as Constructivism, Futurism, Expressionism and Proletarian poetry, and represent the sort of social functional poetry, the collection Večerné svetlá follows in the footsteps of the Apollinaire type of poetry, Sensualism, Vitalism and Poetism within the framework of the Avant-garde poetics. At the same time during the 1930s the historical optimism of Poničan´s poetic gesture becomes weaker and weaker and alongside the change in poetics and inclination to tradition and cultural memory pesimism and scepticism appear on the social and historical as well as the intimite and psychological level. His switch over to using rural and rustic images of national identity and reconnecting with cultural tradition is a kind of paradox with regard to the poet´s past as a representative of the civilizational poetry movement pursuing the ideals of revolution, industrialization and modernization. The social aspect moves away from the identification with the proletarian class to the category of nation and people. The contribution of the paper can be found in clarifying the evolution of Poničan´s poetic gesture and identifying the typological, aesthetical and ideological features and specifications of his individual collections of poems.
