On the Subject-Object Relations in Poetry: the Case of German Poetry from the Folklore Roots to the Postmodern Mainstream

Abstract

The article explores the dynamics of the subject-object relations in German poetry at different stages of its existence. The analysis focuses on the interrelation of the authorial voice and its lyrical doubles (from folklore to the present). The research aims to reveal the degree of authorial presence in the invented poetical persona on the example of poetical works written in different epochs, with a focus on love poetry. It also intends to explore the functions of various lyrical statements, to trace the peculiarities of poetical language in relation to the authorial intention and to a particular literary system the poem belongs to, and to identify some general trends, especially important for the poetry of the 1990s–2000s. The analysis reveals that the modern poet, as a rule, uses basic artistic patterns of the past but without copying them. Despite the fact that the main function of poetic statement is artistic self- expression the modern author gives a preference to the distinct asubject modality that reflects interpersonal relations in modern society. The study combines comparative and theoretical approaches. The results of the research may be employed in similar studies of other literary traditions.

Keywords

• German poetry
• theoretical poetics
• object-subject structure
• style
• direction
• poetical persona
• distancing
• performance.