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Sound Texture in the Theory and Poetry of Polish Symbolism
Russian Literature @North-Holland
VII/19791 Publishing
411-424 Company
SOUND TEXTURE IN THE THEORY AND POETRY OF POLISH SYMBOLISM
LUCYLLA
PSZCZLOWSKA
In the ideas of poetry presented by theoreticians of Polish Symbolism the sound texture of the poetic text plays an impprtant role. The main feature prescribed in this area is tunefulness, melodiousness of poems. This attitude is largely a continuation of ideas postulated in the previous epoch when melodiousness was considered to be of primary importance in the discussions about poetic language.' For Positivists the sound texture of poetry should be oriented towards the features that are characteristic for songs. From this point of view they considered the metrical and stanzaic patterns of poems. Positivists tried to enrich the melodiousness of verse in other ways too. They connected rhythmicality with vocalism,hence they saw a prevalence of consonants as a disturbance of the melodiousness of the language. To briny this melodiousness forward they even suggested the return of quanwhich in Polish had ceased to exis't long ago.2 tity, Irregular sound instrumentation (such as alliteration or other kinds of irregular sound repetitions) was treated cautiously, as being dangerous for the melodious flow of the poem. For the theoreticians of Positivism the melodiousness or musicalness of the poetic language was, neveronly an external feature. It was the Symboltheless, ists who gave this idea strong aesthetic foundations, stemming from the 18th century and the romantic theories of the origin of language and its function in poetry. These aesthetic foundations are thoroughly discussed by Edward LeszczyfiskiinhisbaokHarmonia sZowa (The Harmony of the word).He maintains that in the primary language there was frequently "a connection between the acoustic features and the notions they sig-
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nify". In everyday speech traces of this connection can be found in non-lexical onomatopoeias and onomatopoeic words. Whereas "in any true piece of poetry sounds regain their primary melodiousness, images regain their impeccable freshness, in any of them a word is revived in the fullness of its essential values". 3 Such an actualization of the natural character of linguistic signs is supposed to be particularly suggestive in lyrical poetry. Another reason for bringing forward the "musical" features of poetry is the importance which the Symbolists ascribed to music. "Outside the close circle of the conscious statesof our ego" - wrote a poet and theoretician, the most renowned spiritual leader of the Polish Symbolists, Stanisiaw Przybyszewski - "is the inner ocean, the sea of mystery and enigma, where strange gales blow: there are hiding-places of the sesame, full of countless treasures and miracles and things indescribable in words".' It was music which was supposed to be the art most directly expressing things that cannot be precisely defined nor clearly expressed. Symbolic images have this very function. Poetry, as the art which makes use of sounds, is now constantly being compared to music, and their considerable affinity has already been proved. There are even attempts to identify poetry with music, but from aspecific point of view. Poetic - as well as musical sounds can have a similar function in the reception of a literary text: they can engender a mood. And it is the mood of the text which conditions the understanding and the import of the symbols, since it reflects the state of the poet's mind. In his book SLowacki i nowa sztuka (Sfowacki and new art) Ignacy Matuszewski, one of the most eminent representatives of Symbolism in Polish literary criticism, described the notion 'symbol' in the following words: "It is a discreet allusion, a delicate suggestion, based on the natural associative similarity of some feelings and impressions, by means of the sensory feature tending to create in the soul of the listener not well-defined notions, ideas and images, but some psychical 'mood', identical with the one the poet was in when he created his poem". This mood canbe achieved in various ways appropriate to poetry; amongst them a arrangement of sounds".' very important one is "the In a further part of his book, devoted to a comparison of the work of Richard Wagner and Juliusz S&oMatuszewski states, that "what Wagner reaches wacki, dumb show and instrumental muby associating poetry, Sfowacki achieves by means of language itself. SIC,
Sound
Texture
in
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His language expresses not only lines, rtIOVHtIf?ntS, fOrIIIS first of all it evokes a deep and solemn and colours, mood in the reader. The author of King-spirit induces us to dream, excites and touches us like a musician".6 The fact that poetry - as the art of language - has a level of meaning, does not prevent us to identify it with music. A further discussion shows that the ability to evoke a certain mood is very much connected with the acoustic-prosodic form of words andsentences. "In the works of S&owacki and contemporary 'modernists"' - writes Matuszewski - "words and sentences really become 'individuals', they act upon our imagination not only as links of a logical chain of thought, but directly, by the sound, rhythm and colour, which, independently from the main idea,reflectthe psychical mood of a poem, which cannot be expressed in words".? Somewhere else in his book Matuszewski notes that "modern art tries to express primarily these inner things, which, although impossible to describe in words, i.e. realistically, in a plastic and logical form, can be sung in a free musical form, i.e. by arbitrary but harmonious and suggestive arrangements of ideas and images, words, sounds, colours, shapes and lines".* The sound-prosodic layer is clearly treated here as an independent element of a literary text. Such an attitude did not exist in the previous epoch when the meaning of a word was considered to be very important. From here it is not far to a complete independence of linguistic sounds and to putting them on the same footing as music. In the poetics of Symbolism sounds did not become completely independent. Such poetic realizations came later on in Futurism, when the sound structure of a word was separated from its meaning. However, looking for a more precise definition of this postulated musicality of the language of poetry we find assumptions in the works of the theoreticians of Symbolism, which are well known from the period of Positivism. "The soul of lyrical poetry" - writes Edward Leszczyfiski - "is its rhythmical melodiousness".g Ignacy Matuszewski talks about "rhythm and rhyme" as means of evoking a mood. It is clear that, from this point of view, metrical repetitions of sounds play the most important role, i.e. the accentual and syllabic regularity of the line and the rhyme.Rhythmicality is ensured by the use of the syllabo-tonic verse, and hence a great deal of attention is devoted to stress patterns. Individual metrical patterns are no longer judged in respect to their usefulness for poems, as it was done in the previous century, in the "pioneer"
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years of syllabo-tonism. But there is a tendency -also known from previous epochs - to expose the metaphoric aspects of the structure of syllabo-tonic poems. Interpreting them Leszczyfiski uses categories of movement and tempo: the poems written in 3-syllable feet are slow, those written in Z-syllable feet are quick; an amphibrach gives the poem an even tempo, an iamb makes the tempo change, etc. As far as rhyme is concerned the attitude which is characteristic of the Positivist theory of poetic lanis also continued. According to Edward Leszczyfiguage ski or W&odzlmierz Zagdrski rhyme - as an important feature of a poem's melodiousness - must be based on a strict repetition of the sound and the prosodic form of the verse-ending. Besides, the theoreticians underline the value of the stanzaic structure of poetry. such a type of construction facilitates Undoubtedly, prosodic and sound repetitions which cause a uniformity of intonation. And this uniformity is highly appreciated as influencing the mood of the poem. As has been shown, the theoreticians of Polish Symbolism attribute the decisive role in the creation of musical values in a poem and its mood to regular, metrical, sound repetitions. This fact has repercussions in their attitude towards irregular sound effects. First of all, their interest is focused on sound repetitions that result from repetitions of words and whole sentences. The latter phenomenon has been called by Leszczyfiski "the word-musical refrains". These "returns of the same modulations" have a great value, because they emphasize and strengthen the mood. Matuszewski, who motivates the function of various types of refrains in a similar way, underlines also their aesthetic properties: "When the vagueness and unusualness of the spiritual contents want to find a sensual expression which would be sufficiently significant and harmonious, they must take shapes exceptionally beautiful, subtle, refined and at the same time suggestive. And one of the means to intensify suggestion is the rhythmical repetition of certain mowhich is realized in poetry by developing the tifs, effect of the so-called refrains in the most general meaning of the term".10 One can suppose that the irregular instrumentation of a poem - the repetition of consonants or vowels which have some distinctive features in common - is also appreciated; these consonants and vowels should, however, have only some distinctive features in comalliteration is not recommended. In Zagbrmon, since ski's opinion alliteration can be "a great fault
Sound
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against melodiousness", because "it gives a tiresome monotony to the melody of a poem, especially when it concerns stressed syllables"." He accepts alliteration only if it is used exceptionally. Leszczyfiski notices that the use of alliteration may be dangerous for the "musicalness of the verse": "Within one line" - he writes - "the same sounds, emphasizing stressed syllables of two or more neighbour words, may return.This sound correspondence, called alliteration, should be limited to one vowel or one consonant, sound correspondences between whole syllables, e.g. wiosna przeOtherwise a monotonous wonna, should be exceptional. and striking equality of sound would occur".12Besides, when the middle stresses of the line are too strongly the acoustic uniformity, which is the funemphasized, damental principle of each poetical construction, isthreatened. Thus, alliteration is a means which should be employed very carefully, and it should never affect the word choice and the word order. The onomatopoeic effects which can be created by alliteration were rather disliked by the theoreticians of the "positivist" epoch - they treated these effects as interfering with the melodiousness of the poem. Symbolists do not like these effects either, but not only for this reason. Onomatopoeia's are, in their opinion, too superficial and persistent. Matuszewski, describing Wagner's artistry, states that when he "reproduces the life of water or the secret sounds of forests, he never comes down to the role of a simple imitator of real sounds and whispers, but tends to transmit some deeper, internal, mystical essence of the elements". l3 One can suppose that onomatopoeias seemed too direct and neat to the Symbolists, as they did not want to imitate, but to suggest the hidden phenomena. After all, from the opinions mentioned above we can conclude that the Symbolist theoreticians did not like sound effects that create an additional, individual meaning (as e.g. the compound rhyme, the anagram or the onomatopoeia). Thus, vague and sometimes ambiguous images and ideas were to be rendered - or rather suggested - by vague, not precisely formulated means of expression. The sounds of a language can be associated not only with other sounds - musical or non-musical ones; according to the views of the Symbolists they have a possibility to evoke associations with many sensory as well as psychical impressions. The association of impressions perceived by different senses - called synhas been discussed in detail and even sysaesthesiatematized by the French theoreticians of Symbolism.
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But their Polish colleagues were less enthusiastic as far as synaesthesia was concerned. In his programmatic article "For the new art" Stanis3aw Przybyszewski states that "besides the sensory association of sound with sound only, of colour with colour only, there exists an emotional association of the most diverse impressions, because they share the same emotional base . ..".I4 But he never extends beyond these broad terms. The emotional relation between various sensory impressions was strongly underlined by Ignacy Matuszewski, who declares himself an adherent of synaesthesia He notices that "the reality and the relatively frequent occurrence of this phenomenon has now been established by science, and the poets of the modernist school knew how to use it to evoke effects of mood". However, he is merely interested in the general principle of synaesthesia,not in ascribing particular values from the sphere of colours or extralinguistic sounds to the sounds of language. He even strongly criticizes the synaesthetic theories of Rene Ghil and Stefan George, because they made "a general rule from the results of purely subjective impressions and built a narrow system in which poetic creativity restswholely on a secondary factor"." Edward Leszczyiiski, too, expresses his scepticism towards the "correspondence between particular vowels and particular colours"; if it may be a matter of general and of purely it exists, individual associations.'6 All the theoretical opinions presented above are reflected in the poetry of Polish Symbolism. The means of making a poem sound music-like are most often employed jointly, and one factor of melodiousness strengthens and underlines the effects of the other ones. Amongst them the most striking are multiple repetitions of a whole line or lines with or without In Positivist poetry such repetitions were change. mostly used in poems connected with folk songs, in which this device is frequently used. Now refrainsand other repetitions become extremely popular in allkinds They are not obligatorily the keyof lyrical poetry. lines of the poems, but usually they contain whole sentences expressing some characteristic image participating in the creation of the symbolic world of the poem or at least of its mood. Sound and prosodical repetitions occur as a result of these repetitions of words and sentences.The lines/ sentences repeated are as a rule cadenced (they are mostly descriptive assertions from the logical point so the intonation obtained is slow and of view), quiet:
Sound
l'exture
in
Polish
417
Symbolism
Na Aniof Pafiski bija dzwony, Niech bedzie Maria pozdrowiona, Niech bedzie Chrystus pozdrowiony... Na AnioI Pafiski bija dzwony, W niebiosach kedy8 g2os ich kona... Na wade ciche cienie schodzq, Tumany sic po wydmach wodzq, A rzeka szemrze, plynie w mrokach, Pkynie i paynie coraz dalej... A co5 w niej wzdycha, cog zawodzi, Cog sic w niej skariy, cog tak iali... Pfynie i p&ynie, ai gdzieS ginie, Traci sic w g6rach i w ob&okach I ju5 nie wraca nigdy fala, Co taka smutna stad odchodzi... Przepada kedyS w m6rz glebinie I jui nie wraca nigdy z dala... (Kazimierz Similar organization which is poems:
Tetmajer,
"Na
Anio&
Pafiski")
effects in the domain of sound and prosodic are obtained by the usage of anaphora one of the favourite devices in Symbolist
KrBtkiego dnia znutone, senne Swiatfo kona, Krdtkiego dnia, co z sobanic nie przynidsf w dani, Kroplq w zamierzchfej czasu gasnacy otchfani, jak rzecz bezcenna, swoja - a stracona... Smutny, Koficzy sic dziefi d2d2u cieikim umeczonym paaczem, Koficzy sic i w zmqconych odblaskach dogasa; Na mokry bQakit nieba wyszedk zn6w zza lasa... ani pomne za czem. tal mi, chod nie wiem czemu, Cog w piersimej sic skar2y, jak pie,% niewygrana, Cog, co s26w sip domaga dzieii ca&y, od rana, Cog, co my51 moja przedzq osnuwa mozolna... (Maryla
Wolska,
"Szara
godzina")
The tendency to repetitions is also reflected in the structure of the lines, where syllabo-tonic metres are used as frequently as in the previous epoch of literature. But some differences in the employment of particular metrical schemes can be noticed. First of all the trochaic metre has been nearly abandoned now, probably because of its excessive usage in Positivist where the 8-syllable trochaic verse became poetry, almost a signal of common monotonous talk. On the
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the 8-syllable line, whole, as well as shorter ones, used in the "folk" poems of the Positivists, is rather rare now. Instead there is a visible preponderance of the iamb and the anapaest-the first occurring most often in g-syllable lines, the second - in lo-syllable lines (so the verse line - if we add the frequent use of syllabic 13- and 11-syllable lines is on the average longer in Symbolism than in the previous epoch). Apart from the syllabo-tonic poems in which the given metrical schemes are strictly realized, we find the tendency to rhythmization being expressed in another way, too: by introducing a sporadic accentual regularityintothe syllabic verse. In the previous epoch some experiments in this field were made by Maria Konopnicka; in Symbolist poetry such a procedure becomes quite frequent. E.g., an iambization of one of the most popular syllabic metres - the ll-syllable line with a caesura after the fifth syllable: Ja k;met k<61 - a d&h sic w; mnie wichrzy jak ~$2 pusfcni w zwi;wna piramide ja piorun burz - a od grobowca $chszy trupiog6 i ohyde. mogif swych kr$je Ja - &ch2afi t&z - a p&kaabym nad .&bg jak zimny wiatr na zwiedaych stawu trzcinach. Jam b&k wulkan6w - a w blotnych nizinach id?, jak pogrzeb, z nuda i Salrob?. (Tadeusz
Micifiski,
"Lucifer")
The attempt to a rhythmical musicalness of poetry motivates a predilection for sonnets and many other stanzaic forms, especially long and complicated ones. Of course there still is the I-line stanza which has always dominated, but long and uncommon stanzas are much more frequent in Symbolist poetry than ever before. They give more opportunities to use all kinds of repetitions of words, sentences and lines. In such structures the rhyme, too, ,is often repeated, and consequently the whole poem seems to be based on several musical motifs which take the first place 'in the reader's comprehension and which obscure the lexical the lo-line stanza with 3 alternating meanings. E.g. rhyme-endings: Jesienne lasy poczerwienione gorejg w cudnym sfofica zachodzie. Witam was, brzozy, graby zlocone i fantastyczne ruiny w wodzie.
Sound
Texture
Gzemu czemu czemu plyna i jak latajq
in
Polish
419
sic Smiejq te jarzebiny? dumaja joday zielone? sig krwawiq klony - osiny? fiolety mgiel przez doliny motyle w barwnym ogrodzie 1iScie z%oto-czerwone. (Tadeusz
The musical ened by rhymes - not strictly
Symbolism
Miciiiski,
mood of the poem can also which suggest associations - extralinguistic defined
"Akwarele") be strengthwith certain sounds:
0 szyby deszcz dzwoni, deszcz dzwoni jesienny I pluszcze jednaki, miarowy, niezmienny, Didiu krople padajq i tlukq w me okno... Jck szklany... placz szklany... a szybywmgle I Swiat?a szarego blask saczy sic senny... 0 szyby deszcz dzwoni, deszcz dzwoni jesienny... (Leopold
Staff,
"Deszcz
moknq
jesienny")
The gemination of intervocalic nasals in rhyme position (together with repetition of rhyme-endings and rhyming words) can function to underline the monotony of falling rain drops which is communicated on the semantic level. In Symbolist poems full grammatical rhymes aresometimes used. The use of this type of rhymes in a period in which a grammatical correspondence between the rhyming words is avoided in principle, is motivated by the tendency to bring poetry closer to music. In these rhymes the grammatical morpheme is exposed setting aside the meaning of the word. This way a sound unanimity of utterance is achieved: Samotna, drobnq lampka ledwie migocace, Wijq sic jako weie kana3y weneckie, A czarne mury 1Snip sic straszne i zdradzieckie, Jak kurytarze ciemne, dlugie i milczace. Groza ogarnia serce, noca, zatrwoione, I roi tajemnicze zasadzki i zdrady, Zabdjcze puginaly, krwawe maskarady I mi3osne tragedie w falach utopione. (Antoni The domination connected with
the
of sound character
over of
Lange,
meaning is the "rhyme
"Wenecja") somehow vocabulary"
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of the Symbolist epoch. This is clearly limited in comparison with that of the previous period.The trend towards avoiding everyday words which is present in Symbolist poetry as a whole, manifests itself above all in the rhyme words of the lines. In many poems the profusion of various kinds of lexical repetitions and parellelisms (anaphora, epiphora in case of repeated rhyme, whole lines and whole stanzas repeated) provokes sound effects as a secondary result. In such a context sound repetitions that result from a primary poetic device (i.e. used on purpose) are not so often used. If they are, they by the Symbolist theoreticians are - as was stated based mostly on similarity but not on identicality of sounds, on the repetition of certain (not all) distinctive features only. E.g. in the following stanza: Przez ogrdd m6j szatan szed3 smutny Smiertelnie I zmienif go w straszna, okropnq pustelnie... Z ponurym, na piersi zwieszonym szed& czo*em I kwiaty kwitnace przysypa* popio*em, Trawniki zarzucif bryfami kamienia I posiaa szaf trwogi i SmierC przeradenia... (Leopold
Staff,
"Deszcz
jesienny"
In the first line there is a "sound metaphor", purposely based on alliteration with the consonants s, g and S. But the meaning of this metaphor is not clear; we may speak here only of a kinship which arises between the meanings of the words "szatan" (the Satan), "smutny" (sad) and "Smiertelnie" (deadly). This kinship underlines the sad and despairing mood of the poem which is created on the semantic level and supported by the syntactic, prosodic and sound structure. It should be noticed, however, that, when employing alliteration, the Symbolists sometimes endeavoured to and in such cases the idenshow its decorative value, tical consonants were repeated. In the following fragment nearly a whole line is filled with words beginning with "k" or Irk'": Gdy mi sig w grzmiacych ucztachiycia wszystkie stiukfy Kruie, w krysztalnym kruszcu kunsztownie kowane, Chciaiem paSC w sen spoczynku, w zmierzchami owiane Sny grobu... "Pofudnie wf6czegi") (Leopold Staff, This
demonstration
of
linguistic
artistry
can
be eas-
Sound
Texture
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SymboZism
421
ily understood as reflecting the meaning of the line, describing the beautiful work of carving in chosen, poetic words. All the discussed features of sound texture are manifest in the major part of Symbolist poems. But the image of Symbolist poetry would be simplified if we should treat all the above opinions and observations as prevalent and representative of Symbolist poetics. The critics and theoreticians of this epoch paid little attention to several innovations in the domain we are dealing with (or did not even mention them at all). These innovations concern first of all the verse structure. In the last years of the 19th century and early in the 20th century the development of two relatively new types of verse can be observed.17 One of them is the so-called tonic verse in which only the number of main word-stresses is defined by the metrical pattern; the number of syllables may vary, depending on the length of the tacts (word or group of words having one main word-stress). As a matter of fact, this type of verse is used by one poet only, but a very prominent one: Stanislaw Wyspiafiski, the greatest Symbolist playwright." However, he never employs tonic verse as the only metre in his dramas: the parts written in 3-stress verse are scattered amongst other parts which mostly have a syllabo-tonic structure.E.g.: Tajemnic tobie czeSC uchyle: Nie jestem ci ja, matko, ubogq; bogate podziemu Spichlerze: z kaidego owocu sic bierze nasienie i skrzetnie kryje; tam przechowujq sic ziarna, a jak je przyniose na Swiat, to kaide kwiatem odiyje. Patrz! wszystkie pedy pomarnieja, gdy noca wichry powieja; patrz, oto martwy konar drzew. Rzeczy tajemne tam sic dzieja; nie mogq sic beze mnie staC. (Wyspiadski,
"Not
Listopadowa",
iambic
line
iambic
line
iambic iambic iambic
line line line
SC-III)
As the iambic lines in the above fragment mostly have 3 main word-stresses too," an ambiguity of metrical patterns occurs, so that either the syllabo-tonic or the tonic structure can be treated as the additional rhythmization of the text. In Wyspiafiski's dramas we may also find parts rather short ones - that are written in free verse
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(which is connected with the vers libre as used by the French poets of this period). This type of verse is employed by other renowned Symbolist poets such as Kazimierz Tetmajer or Leopold Staff. In its Polish realizations free verse has a characteristic feature which is due to the domination of syllabism in our poetry for several centuries: in this early period of development it always contains a number of scattered lines in which the two most popular syllabic metres are used, i.e. a 13-syllable line with a caesura after 7 syllables and an ll-syllable line with a caesura after 5 syllables: 11/5+6/
13/7+6/ 11/5+6/ 13/7+6/
W ogrdd tie cudny powiode, W Swiat egzaltacji naiwnej i szczerej Dla rzeczy prostych a gfebokich, Egzaltacji, co kocha kwiat drobny tak Jak nigdy iadna kobieta nie by2.a kochanq, Egzaltacji, co ustom kaZe calowae 1i.C.C zwied3y Z rozczuleniem i%zamiwdzieczno&ciniezmiernej Za to, ie kochae go wolno. W Swiat tie zawiode zachwytu, ekstazy, Bezgranicznego oddania w wielkiej i Swigtej miloSci Dla wszystkiego, co przestwdrmi?oSc%wypefnia. (Leopold
Staff,
"Ogrbd
uSpiony")
The quotation from Staff's poem illustrates the other innovation that was introduced by the Symbolist poets: the lack of rhyme. Unrhymed verse, although it is sometimes used in regular metrical schemes, is mostly connected with free verse. The lack of rhyme evidently influences the prosodic form of the verse clausulas: the ends of the lines in Staff's poem are not regularly stressed on the penultima.20 But they do have a pattern: e.g. in the case of an oxytonic line the last stress is always preceded by two unstressed syllables. The free verse of the Symbolist poets occasionally has rhyme, but its rhyming is sporadic and irregular. This is the case in the poems of Wyspiadski. In between corresponding rhymes he often inserted 10 or more lines with other rhyme endings or with no rhymes at a11.21 Antoni Lange and Edward Porgbowicz, two poets who had a very good knowledge of foreign poetry (they translated many poems, mostly from Romance lanupon another innovation in guages) , experimented rhyming. This was assonance, patterned according to the rules of Spanish poetry, where the sound corre-
Sound
spondence vowels :
of
the
Texture
lines
in
is
PoZish
limited
SymboZism
to
the
423 last
two
W sercu moim sic toczy planeta umarfa, Co miafa niegdyS wielkie zielone przestwory, Gdzie kwit2a bia3a Grecja i Roma ?elazna, Gdzie hucza2.y wulkany i brzeczaky pszczoay, Z?ociay sic uSmiechy i promienie zorzy. I wszystko to umarlo, i wszystko zastyglo, I stafem sic grobowcem, co ma w sobie trupa, A choE to, co umiera, wyrocznia mogilna Na SmierE jestprzeznaczone,przecieS owaglucha Planeta skamieniaaa do fez mie porusza. (Antoni
Lange,
"RozmyBlania")
All of these new means of expression share one feature: they always introduce a certain irregularity into poetic structures, they affect the fully rhythRut we may suppose that varimicized form of poetry. ous kinds of deviation from the regular form willhave been made in the name of melodiousness; it is only the character of melodiousness which is now understood differently. The realization of the tonic metrestrongly influences the intonation of a poem, in free verse lines that are well known from syllabic poetry come to sound as musical reminiscences, unrhymed regular poems are saturated with many word and sound repetitions,.. The effects brought about by these new means of expression are very well described in the following words of Edward Porebowicz. Defending the experiments with the "Spanish" assonance, mentioned above, he wrote that this type of sound correspondence "requires, as a matter of fact, the artistry, the feeling of half-tone not of rhyme which strikes the ears with its sounds, full and unambiguous tone"." And very likely it is this "feeling of half-tone sounds" that strives to a more delicate and less superficial melodiousness of verse (which does perhaps not result from its strong rhythmization) which is one of the sources of all the prosodic and sound innovations in Symbolist poetics.
LucyZZa
424
PszczoZowska
NOTES 1.
2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18.
19. 20.
21. 22.
As the Positivist critic A.G.Bem stated, the language of poetry should be a "ceremonial, solemn form of the creative word which, since its beginnings, has been connected with music". Cf. A.G.Bem, Teoria poezji pozskiej (The Theory of Polish Poetry), St.Petersburg 1899, p.90. See Bern, op.cit., p.38-39. Cf. Leszczybski, Hamonia s+?owa, Krakdw 1912, p.23-25. Cf. St.Przybyszewski, "0 nowa, sztuke" (For the New Art), iycie 1899, 6. Cf. I.Matuszewski, S&owacki i nowa sztuka, Warszawa 1902, p.130. Cf. Matuszewski, op.&t., p.203. Cf. Matuszewski, op.cit., p.238-239. Cf. Matuszewski, op.&t., p.143. Cf. Leszczyriski, op.&t., p.23. Cf. Matuszewski, op.&t., p.144. Cf. W.Zagdrski, "Czym jest forma w poezji?" (What is Form in Poetry?), Wqdrowiec 1896, 43. Cf. Leszczyfiski, op.cit., p.80-81. Cf. Matuszewski, op.&t., p.183. Cf. Przybyszewski, op.&t. Cf. Matuszewski, op.&t., p.112-113. Cf. Leszczyriski, op.cit., p.Zl-22. Both of them were sporadically used by the poets of Polish Romanticism. As an inventor and propagator of tonic verse another poet, Jan Kasprowicz, is often mentioned. Certainly, in his collection of poems Ksiega ubogich (The Book of the Poor), written in the years 1909-1915, this metrical pattern is used almost consequently in all the poems, but it is of a later date than Wyspiarlski's experiments with tonic verse and it hardly belongs to Symbolist poetics. This is to some extent subject to their syllabic length: in modern Polish in any set of words containing 7, 8 or 9 syllables a strong tendency to 3 main word-stresses is observed. In unrhymed poems in which regular, syllabic or syllabo-tonic patterns are realized, the lines always have a word stress on mostly they contain various kinds of the penultima. (Besides, word-, sentenceand line repetitions, as is the case in rhymed regular verse of this period). This practice will later be highly appreciated by one of the most eminent critics of Polish Avant-garde Poetry, Tadeusz Peiper. Cf. E.Porqbowicz, "Zapomniane harmonie. Asonansa" (The Lost Harmony. Assonance), Museion 1913, 1.
VII/19791 Publishing
411-424 Company
SOUND TEXTURE IN THE THEORY AND POETRY OF POLISH SYMBOLISM
LUCYLLA
PSZCZLOWSKA
In the ideas of poetry presented by theoreticians of Polish Symbolism the sound texture of the poetic text plays an impprtant role. The main feature prescribed in this area is tunefulness, melodiousness of poems. This attitude is largely a continuation of ideas postulated in the previous epoch when melodiousness was considered to be of primary importance in the discussions about poetic language.' For Positivists the sound texture of poetry should be oriented towards the features that are characteristic for songs. From this point of view they considered the metrical and stanzaic patterns of poems. Positivists tried to enrich the melodiousness of verse in other ways too. They connected rhythmicality with vocalism,hence they saw a prevalence of consonants as a disturbance of the melodiousness of the language. To briny this melodiousness forward they even suggested the return of quanwhich in Polish had ceased to exis't long ago.2 tity, Irregular sound instrumentation (such as alliteration or other kinds of irregular sound repetitions) was treated cautiously, as being dangerous for the melodious flow of the poem. For the theoreticians of Positivism the melodiousness or musicalness of the poetic language was, neveronly an external feature. It was the Symboltheless, ists who gave this idea strong aesthetic foundations, stemming from the 18th century and the romantic theories of the origin of language and its function in poetry. These aesthetic foundations are thoroughly discussed by Edward LeszczyfiskiinhisbaokHarmonia sZowa (The Harmony of the word).He maintains that in the primary language there was frequently "a connection between the acoustic features and the notions they sig-
412
LucyZZa
PszczoZowska
nify". In everyday speech traces of this connection can be found in non-lexical onomatopoeias and onomatopoeic words. Whereas "in any true piece of poetry sounds regain their primary melodiousness, images regain their impeccable freshness, in any of them a word is revived in the fullness of its essential values". 3 Such an actualization of the natural character of linguistic signs is supposed to be particularly suggestive in lyrical poetry. Another reason for bringing forward the "musical" features of poetry is the importance which the Symbolists ascribed to music. "Outside the close circle of the conscious statesof our ego" - wrote a poet and theoretician, the most renowned spiritual leader of the Polish Symbolists, Stanisiaw Przybyszewski - "is the inner ocean, the sea of mystery and enigma, where strange gales blow: there are hiding-places of the sesame, full of countless treasures and miracles and things indescribable in words".' It was music which was supposed to be the art most directly expressing things that cannot be precisely defined nor clearly expressed. Symbolic images have this very function. Poetry, as the art which makes use of sounds, is now constantly being compared to music, and their considerable affinity has already been proved. There are even attempts to identify poetry with music, but from aspecific point of view. Poetic - as well as musical sounds can have a similar function in the reception of a literary text: they can engender a mood. And it is the mood of the text which conditions the understanding and the import of the symbols, since it reflects the state of the poet's mind. In his book SLowacki i nowa sztuka (Sfowacki and new art) Ignacy Matuszewski, one of the most eminent representatives of Symbolism in Polish literary criticism, described the notion 'symbol' in the following words: "It is a discreet allusion, a delicate suggestion, based on the natural associative similarity of some feelings and impressions, by means of the sensory feature tending to create in the soul of the listener not well-defined notions, ideas and images, but some psychical 'mood', identical with the one the poet was in when he created his poem". This mood canbe achieved in various ways appropriate to poetry; amongst them a arrangement of sounds".' very important one is "the In a further part of his book, devoted to a comparison of the work of Richard Wagner and Juliusz S&oMatuszewski states, that "what Wagner reaches wacki, dumb show and instrumental muby associating poetry, Sfowacki achieves by means of language itself. SIC,
Sound
Texture
in
Polish
SymboZ-lsm
413
His language expresses not only lines, rtIOVHtIf?ntS, fOrIIIS first of all it evokes a deep and solemn and colours, mood in the reader. The author of King-spirit induces us to dream, excites and touches us like a musician".6 The fact that poetry - as the art of language - has a level of meaning, does not prevent us to identify it with music. A further discussion shows that the ability to evoke a certain mood is very much connected with the acoustic-prosodic form of words andsentences. "In the works of S&owacki and contemporary 'modernists"' - writes Matuszewski - "words and sentences really become 'individuals', they act upon our imagination not only as links of a logical chain of thought, but directly, by the sound, rhythm and colour, which, independently from the main idea,reflectthe psychical mood of a poem, which cannot be expressed in words".? Somewhere else in his book Matuszewski notes that "modern art tries to express primarily these inner things, which, although impossible to describe in words, i.e. realistically, in a plastic and logical form, can be sung in a free musical form, i.e. by arbitrary but harmonious and suggestive arrangements of ideas and images, words, sounds, colours, shapes and lines".* The sound-prosodic layer is clearly treated here as an independent element of a literary text. Such an attitude did not exist in the previous epoch when the meaning of a word was considered to be very important. From here it is not far to a complete independence of linguistic sounds and to putting them on the same footing as music. In the poetics of Symbolism sounds did not become completely independent. Such poetic realizations came later on in Futurism, when the sound structure of a word was separated from its meaning. However, looking for a more precise definition of this postulated musicality of the language of poetry we find assumptions in the works of the theoreticians of Symbolism, which are well known from the period of Positivism. "The soul of lyrical poetry" - writes Edward Leszczyfiski - "is its rhythmical melodiousness".g Ignacy Matuszewski talks about "rhythm and rhyme" as means of evoking a mood. It is clear that, from this point of view, metrical repetitions of sounds play the most important role, i.e. the accentual and syllabic regularity of the line and the rhyme.Rhythmicality is ensured by the use of the syllabo-tonic verse, and hence a great deal of attention is devoted to stress patterns. Individual metrical patterns are no longer judged in respect to their usefulness for poems, as it was done in the previous century, in the "pioneer"
414
LucyZla
PszczoZowska
years of syllabo-tonism. But there is a tendency -also known from previous epochs - to expose the metaphoric aspects of the structure of syllabo-tonic poems. Interpreting them Leszczyfiski uses categories of movement and tempo: the poems written in 3-syllable feet are slow, those written in Z-syllable feet are quick; an amphibrach gives the poem an even tempo, an iamb makes the tempo change, etc. As far as rhyme is concerned the attitude which is characteristic of the Positivist theory of poetic lanis also continued. According to Edward Leszczyfiguage ski or W&odzlmierz Zagdrski rhyme - as an important feature of a poem's melodiousness - must be based on a strict repetition of the sound and the prosodic form of the verse-ending. Besides, the theoreticians underline the value of the stanzaic structure of poetry. such a type of construction facilitates Undoubtedly, prosodic and sound repetitions which cause a uniformity of intonation. And this uniformity is highly appreciated as influencing the mood of the poem. As has been shown, the theoreticians of Polish Symbolism attribute the decisive role in the creation of musical values in a poem and its mood to regular, metrical, sound repetitions. This fact has repercussions in their attitude towards irregular sound effects. First of all, their interest is focused on sound repetitions that result from repetitions of words and whole sentences. The latter phenomenon has been called by Leszczyfiski "the word-musical refrains". These "returns of the same modulations" have a great value, because they emphasize and strengthen the mood. Matuszewski, who motivates the function of various types of refrains in a similar way, underlines also their aesthetic properties: "When the vagueness and unusualness of the spiritual contents want to find a sensual expression which would be sufficiently significant and harmonious, they must take shapes exceptionally beautiful, subtle, refined and at the same time suggestive. And one of the means to intensify suggestion is the rhythmical repetition of certain mowhich is realized in poetry by developing the tifs, effect of the so-called refrains in the most general meaning of the term".10 One can suppose that the irregular instrumentation of a poem - the repetition of consonants or vowels which have some distinctive features in common - is also appreciated; these consonants and vowels should, however, have only some distinctive features in comalliteration is not recommended. In Zagbrmon, since ski's opinion alliteration can be "a great fault
Sound
Texture
in
Polish
SymboZism
415
against melodiousness", because "it gives a tiresome monotony to the melody of a poem, especially when it concerns stressed syllables"." He accepts alliteration only if it is used exceptionally. Leszczyfiski notices that the use of alliteration may be dangerous for the "musicalness of the verse": "Within one line" - he writes - "the same sounds, emphasizing stressed syllables of two or more neighbour words, may return.This sound correspondence, called alliteration, should be limited to one vowel or one consonant, sound correspondences between whole syllables, e.g. wiosna przeOtherwise a monotonous wonna, should be exceptional. and striking equality of sound would occur".12Besides, when the middle stresses of the line are too strongly the acoustic uniformity, which is the funemphasized, damental principle of each poetical construction, isthreatened. Thus, alliteration is a means which should be employed very carefully, and it should never affect the word choice and the word order. The onomatopoeic effects which can be created by alliteration were rather disliked by the theoreticians of the "positivist" epoch - they treated these effects as interfering with the melodiousness of the poem. Symbolists do not like these effects either, but not only for this reason. Onomatopoeia's are, in their opinion, too superficial and persistent. Matuszewski, describing Wagner's artistry, states that when he "reproduces the life of water or the secret sounds of forests, he never comes down to the role of a simple imitator of real sounds and whispers, but tends to transmit some deeper, internal, mystical essence of the elements". l3 One can suppose that onomatopoeias seemed too direct and neat to the Symbolists, as they did not want to imitate, but to suggest the hidden phenomena. After all, from the opinions mentioned above we can conclude that the Symbolist theoreticians did not like sound effects that create an additional, individual meaning (as e.g. the compound rhyme, the anagram or the onomatopoeia). Thus, vague and sometimes ambiguous images and ideas were to be rendered - or rather suggested - by vague, not precisely formulated means of expression. The sounds of a language can be associated not only with other sounds - musical or non-musical ones; according to the views of the Symbolists they have a possibility to evoke associations with many sensory as well as psychical impressions. The association of impressions perceived by different senses - called synhas been discussed in detail and even sysaesthesiatematized by the French theoreticians of Symbolism.
416
LucyZZa
PszczoZowska
But their Polish colleagues were less enthusiastic as far as synaesthesia was concerned. In his programmatic article "For the new art" Stanis3aw Przybyszewski states that "besides the sensory association of sound with sound only, of colour with colour only, there exists an emotional association of the most diverse impressions, because they share the same emotional base . ..".I4 But he never extends beyond these broad terms. The emotional relation between various sensory impressions was strongly underlined by Ignacy Matuszewski, who declares himself an adherent of synaesthesia He notices that "the reality and the relatively frequent occurrence of this phenomenon has now been established by science, and the poets of the modernist school knew how to use it to evoke effects of mood". However, he is merely interested in the general principle of synaesthesia,not in ascribing particular values from the sphere of colours or extralinguistic sounds to the sounds of language. He even strongly criticizes the synaesthetic theories of Rene Ghil and Stefan George, because they made "a general rule from the results of purely subjective impressions and built a narrow system in which poetic creativity restswholely on a secondary factor"." Edward Leszczyiiski, too, expresses his scepticism towards the "correspondence between particular vowels and particular colours"; if it may be a matter of general and of purely it exists, individual associations.'6 All the theoretical opinions presented above are reflected in the poetry of Polish Symbolism. The means of making a poem sound music-like are most often employed jointly, and one factor of melodiousness strengthens and underlines the effects of the other ones. Amongst them the most striking are multiple repetitions of a whole line or lines with or without In Positivist poetry such repetitions were change. mostly used in poems connected with folk songs, in which this device is frequently used. Now refrainsand other repetitions become extremely popular in allkinds They are not obligatorily the keyof lyrical poetry. lines of the poems, but usually they contain whole sentences expressing some characteristic image participating in the creation of the symbolic world of the poem or at least of its mood. Sound and prosodical repetitions occur as a result of these repetitions of words and sentences.The lines/ sentences repeated are as a rule cadenced (they are mostly descriptive assertions from the logical point so the intonation obtained is slow and of view), quiet:
Sound
l'exture
in
Polish
417
Symbolism
Na Aniof Pafiski bija dzwony, Niech bedzie Maria pozdrowiona, Niech bedzie Chrystus pozdrowiony... Na AnioI Pafiski bija dzwony, W niebiosach kedy8 g2os ich kona... Na wade ciche cienie schodzq, Tumany sic po wydmach wodzq, A rzeka szemrze, plynie w mrokach, Pkynie i paynie coraz dalej... A co5 w niej wzdycha, cog zawodzi, Cog sic w niej skariy, cog tak iali... Pfynie i p&ynie, ai gdzieS ginie, Traci sic w g6rach i w ob&okach I ju5 nie wraca nigdy fala, Co taka smutna stad odchodzi... Przepada kedyS w m6rz glebinie I jui nie wraca nigdy z dala... (Kazimierz Similar organization which is poems:
Tetmajer,
"Na
Anio&
Pafiski")
effects in the domain of sound and prosodic are obtained by the usage of anaphora one of the favourite devices in Symbolist
KrBtkiego dnia znutone, senne Swiatfo kona, Krdtkiego dnia, co z sobanic nie przynidsf w dani, Kroplq w zamierzchfej czasu gasnacy otchfani, jak rzecz bezcenna, swoja - a stracona... Smutny, Koficzy sic dziefi d2d2u cieikim umeczonym paaczem, Koficzy sic i w zmqconych odblaskach dogasa; Na mokry bQakit nieba wyszedk zn6w zza lasa... ani pomne za czem. tal mi, chod nie wiem czemu, Cog w piersimej sic skar2y, jak pie,% niewygrana, Cog, co s26w sip domaga dzieii ca&y, od rana, Cog, co my51 moja przedzq osnuwa mozolna... (Maryla
Wolska,
"Szara
godzina")
The tendency to repetitions is also reflected in the structure of the lines, where syllabo-tonic metres are used as frequently as in the previous epoch of literature. But some differences in the employment of particular metrical schemes can be noticed. First of all the trochaic metre has been nearly abandoned now, probably because of its excessive usage in Positivist where the 8-syllable trochaic verse became poetry, almost a signal of common monotonous talk. On the
418
LucyZZa
PszczoZowska
the 8-syllable line, whole, as well as shorter ones, used in the "folk" poems of the Positivists, is rather rare now. Instead there is a visible preponderance of the iamb and the anapaest-the first occurring most often in g-syllable lines, the second - in lo-syllable lines (so the verse line - if we add the frequent use of syllabic 13- and 11-syllable lines is on the average longer in Symbolism than in the previous epoch). Apart from the syllabo-tonic poems in which the given metrical schemes are strictly realized, we find the tendency to rhythmization being expressed in another way, too: by introducing a sporadic accentual regularityintothe syllabic verse. In the previous epoch some experiments in this field were made by Maria Konopnicka; in Symbolist poetry such a procedure becomes quite frequent. E.g., an iambization of one of the most popular syllabic metres - the ll-syllable line with a caesura after the fifth syllable: Ja k;met k<61 - a d&h sic w; mnie wichrzy jak ~$2 pusfcni w zwi;wna piramide ja piorun burz - a od grobowca $chszy trupiog6 i ohyde. mogif swych kr$je Ja - &ch2afi t&z - a p&kaabym nad .&bg jak zimny wiatr na zwiedaych stawu trzcinach. Jam b&k wulkan6w - a w blotnych nizinach id?, jak pogrzeb, z nuda i Salrob?. (Tadeusz
Micifiski,
"Lucifer")
The attempt to a rhythmical musicalness of poetry motivates a predilection for sonnets and many other stanzaic forms, especially long and complicated ones. Of course there still is the I-line stanza which has always dominated, but long and uncommon stanzas are much more frequent in Symbolist poetry than ever before. They give more opportunities to use all kinds of repetitions of words, sentences and lines. In such structures the rhyme, too, ,is often repeated, and consequently the whole poem seems to be based on several musical motifs which take the first place 'in the reader's comprehension and which obscure the lexical the lo-line stanza with 3 alternating meanings. E.g. rhyme-endings: Jesienne lasy poczerwienione gorejg w cudnym sfofica zachodzie. Witam was, brzozy, graby zlocone i fantastyczne ruiny w wodzie.
Sound
Texture
Gzemu czemu czemu plyna i jak latajq
in
Polish
419
sic Smiejq te jarzebiny? dumaja joday zielone? sig krwawiq klony - osiny? fiolety mgiel przez doliny motyle w barwnym ogrodzie 1iScie z%oto-czerwone. (Tadeusz
The musical ened by rhymes - not strictly
Symbolism
Miciiiski,
mood of the poem can also which suggest associations - extralinguistic defined
"Akwarele") be strengthwith certain sounds:
0 szyby deszcz dzwoni, deszcz dzwoni jesienny I pluszcze jednaki, miarowy, niezmienny, Didiu krople padajq i tlukq w me okno... Jck szklany... placz szklany... a szybywmgle I Swiat?a szarego blask saczy sic senny... 0 szyby deszcz dzwoni, deszcz dzwoni jesienny... (Leopold
Staff,
"Deszcz
moknq
jesienny")
The gemination of intervocalic nasals in rhyme position (together with repetition of rhyme-endings and rhyming words) can function to underline the monotony of falling rain drops which is communicated on the semantic level. In Symbolist poems full grammatical rhymes aresometimes used. The use of this type of rhymes in a period in which a grammatical correspondence between the rhyming words is avoided in principle, is motivated by the tendency to bring poetry closer to music. In these rhymes the grammatical morpheme is exposed setting aside the meaning of the word. This way a sound unanimity of utterance is achieved: Samotna, drobnq lampka ledwie migocace, Wijq sic jako weie kana3y weneckie, A czarne mury 1Snip sic straszne i zdradzieckie, Jak kurytarze ciemne, dlugie i milczace. Groza ogarnia serce, noca, zatrwoione, I roi tajemnicze zasadzki i zdrady, Zabdjcze puginaly, krwawe maskarady I mi3osne tragedie w falach utopione. (Antoni The domination connected with
the
of sound character
over of
Lange,
meaning is the "rhyme
"Wenecja") somehow vocabulary"
420
LucyZZa
PszczoZowska
of the Symbolist epoch. This is clearly limited in comparison with that of the previous period.The trend towards avoiding everyday words which is present in Symbolist poetry as a whole, manifests itself above all in the rhyme words of the lines. In many poems the profusion of various kinds of lexical repetitions and parellelisms (anaphora, epiphora in case of repeated rhyme, whole lines and whole stanzas repeated) provokes sound effects as a secondary result. In such a context sound repetitions that result from a primary poetic device (i.e. used on purpose) are not so often used. If they are, they by the Symbolist theoreticians are - as was stated based mostly on similarity but not on identicality of sounds, on the repetition of certain (not all) distinctive features only. E.g. in the following stanza: Przez ogrdd m6j szatan szed3 smutny Smiertelnie I zmienif go w straszna, okropnq pustelnie... Z ponurym, na piersi zwieszonym szed& czo*em I kwiaty kwitnace przysypa* popio*em, Trawniki zarzucif bryfami kamienia I posiaa szaf trwogi i SmierC przeradenia... (Leopold
Staff,
"Deszcz
jesienny"
In the first line there is a "sound metaphor", purposely based on alliteration with the consonants s, g and S. But the meaning of this metaphor is not clear; we may speak here only of a kinship which arises between the meanings of the words "szatan" (the Satan), "smutny" (sad) and "Smiertelnie" (deadly). This kinship underlines the sad and despairing mood of the poem which is created on the semantic level and supported by the syntactic, prosodic and sound structure. It should be noticed, however, that, when employing alliteration, the Symbolists sometimes endeavoured to and in such cases the idenshow its decorative value, tical consonants were repeated. In the following fragment nearly a whole line is filled with words beginning with "k" or Irk'": Gdy mi sig w grzmiacych ucztachiycia wszystkie stiukfy Kruie, w krysztalnym kruszcu kunsztownie kowane, Chciaiem paSC w sen spoczynku, w zmierzchami owiane Sny grobu... "Pofudnie wf6czegi") (Leopold Staff, This
demonstration
of
linguistic
artistry
can
be eas-
Sound
Texture
in
Polish
SymboZism
421
ily understood as reflecting the meaning of the line, describing the beautiful work of carving in chosen, poetic words. All the discussed features of sound texture are manifest in the major part of Symbolist poems. But the image of Symbolist poetry would be simplified if we should treat all the above opinions and observations as prevalent and representative of Symbolist poetics. The critics and theoreticians of this epoch paid little attention to several innovations in the domain we are dealing with (or did not even mention them at all). These innovations concern first of all the verse structure. In the last years of the 19th century and early in the 20th century the development of two relatively new types of verse can be observed.17 One of them is the so-called tonic verse in which only the number of main word-stresses is defined by the metrical pattern; the number of syllables may vary, depending on the length of the tacts (word or group of words having one main word-stress). As a matter of fact, this type of verse is used by one poet only, but a very prominent one: Stanislaw Wyspiafiski, the greatest Symbolist playwright." However, he never employs tonic verse as the only metre in his dramas: the parts written in 3-stress verse are scattered amongst other parts which mostly have a syllabo-tonic structure.E.g.: Tajemnic tobie czeSC uchyle: Nie jestem ci ja, matko, ubogq; bogate podziemu Spichlerze: z kaidego owocu sic bierze nasienie i skrzetnie kryje; tam przechowujq sic ziarna, a jak je przyniose na Swiat, to kaide kwiatem odiyje. Patrz! wszystkie pedy pomarnieja, gdy noca wichry powieja; patrz, oto martwy konar drzew. Rzeczy tajemne tam sic dzieja; nie mogq sic beze mnie staC. (Wyspiadski,
"Not
Listopadowa",
iambic
line
iambic
line
iambic iambic iambic
line line line
SC-III)
As the iambic lines in the above fragment mostly have 3 main word-stresses too," an ambiguity of metrical patterns occurs, so that either the syllabo-tonic or the tonic structure can be treated as the additional rhythmization of the text. In Wyspiafiski's dramas we may also find parts rather short ones - that are written in free verse
422
Lucylla
PszczoZowska
(which is connected with the vers libre as used by the French poets of this period). This type of verse is employed by other renowned Symbolist poets such as Kazimierz Tetmajer or Leopold Staff. In its Polish realizations free verse has a characteristic feature which is due to the domination of syllabism in our poetry for several centuries: in this early period of development it always contains a number of scattered lines in which the two most popular syllabic metres are used, i.e. a 13-syllable line with a caesura after 7 syllables and an ll-syllable line with a caesura after 5 syllables: 11/5+6/
13/7+6/ 11/5+6/ 13/7+6/
W ogrdd tie cudny powiode, W Swiat egzaltacji naiwnej i szczerej Dla rzeczy prostych a gfebokich, Egzaltacji, co kocha kwiat drobny tak Jak nigdy iadna kobieta nie by2.a kochanq, Egzaltacji, co ustom kaZe calowae 1i.C.C zwied3y Z rozczuleniem i%zamiwdzieczno&ciniezmiernej Za to, ie kochae go wolno. W Swiat tie zawiode zachwytu, ekstazy, Bezgranicznego oddania w wielkiej i Swigtej miloSci Dla wszystkiego, co przestwdrmi?oSc%wypefnia. (Leopold
Staff,
"Ogrbd
uSpiony")
The quotation from Staff's poem illustrates the other innovation that was introduced by the Symbolist poets: the lack of rhyme. Unrhymed verse, although it is sometimes used in regular metrical schemes, is mostly connected with free verse. The lack of rhyme evidently influences the prosodic form of the verse clausulas: the ends of the lines in Staff's poem are not regularly stressed on the penultima.20 But they do have a pattern: e.g. in the case of an oxytonic line the last stress is always preceded by two unstressed syllables. The free verse of the Symbolist poets occasionally has rhyme, but its rhyming is sporadic and irregular. This is the case in the poems of Wyspiadski. In between corresponding rhymes he often inserted 10 or more lines with other rhyme endings or with no rhymes at a11.21 Antoni Lange and Edward Porgbowicz, two poets who had a very good knowledge of foreign poetry (they translated many poems, mostly from Romance lanupon another innovation in guages) , experimented rhyming. This was assonance, patterned according to the rules of Spanish poetry, where the sound corre-
Sound
spondence vowels :
of
the
Texture
lines
in
is
PoZish
limited
SymboZism
to
the
423 last
two
W sercu moim sic toczy planeta umarfa, Co miafa niegdyS wielkie zielone przestwory, Gdzie kwit2a bia3a Grecja i Roma ?elazna, Gdzie hucza2.y wulkany i brzeczaky pszczoay, Z?ociay sic uSmiechy i promienie zorzy. I wszystko to umarlo, i wszystko zastyglo, I stafem sic grobowcem, co ma w sobie trupa, A choE to, co umiera, wyrocznia mogilna Na SmierE jestprzeznaczone,przecieS owaglucha Planeta skamieniaaa do fez mie porusza. (Antoni
Lange,
"RozmyBlania")
All of these new means of expression share one feature: they always introduce a certain irregularity into poetic structures, they affect the fully rhythRut we may suppose that varimicized form of poetry. ous kinds of deviation from the regular form willhave been made in the name of melodiousness; it is only the character of melodiousness which is now understood differently. The realization of the tonic metrestrongly influences the intonation of a poem, in free verse lines that are well known from syllabic poetry come to sound as musical reminiscences, unrhymed regular poems are saturated with many word and sound repetitions,.. The effects brought about by these new means of expression are very well described in the following words of Edward Porebowicz. Defending the experiments with the "Spanish" assonance, mentioned above, he wrote that this type of sound correspondence "requires, as a matter of fact, the artistry, the feeling of half-tone not of rhyme which strikes the ears with its sounds, full and unambiguous tone"." And very likely it is this "feeling of half-tone sounds" that strives to a more delicate and less superficial melodiousness of verse (which does perhaps not result from its strong rhythmization) which is one of the sources of all the prosodic and sound innovations in Symbolist poetics.
LucyZZa
424
PszczoZowska
NOTES 1.
2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18.
19. 20.
21. 22.
As the Positivist critic A.G.Bem stated, the language of poetry should be a "ceremonial, solemn form of the creative word which, since its beginnings, has been connected with music". Cf. A.G.Bem, Teoria poezji pozskiej (The Theory of Polish Poetry), St.Petersburg 1899, p.90. See Bern, op.cit., p.38-39. Cf. Leszczybski, Hamonia s+?owa, Krakdw 1912, p.23-25. Cf. St.Przybyszewski, "0 nowa, sztuke" (For the New Art), iycie 1899, 6. Cf. I.Matuszewski, S&owacki i nowa sztuka, Warszawa 1902, p.130. Cf. Matuszewski, op.&t., p.203. Cf. Matuszewski, op.cit., p.238-239. Cf. Matuszewski, op.&t., p.143. Cf. Leszczyriski, op.&t., p.23. Cf. Matuszewski, op.&t., p.144. Cf. W.Zagdrski, "Czym jest forma w poezji?" (What is Form in Poetry?), Wqdrowiec 1896, 43. Cf. Leszczyfiski, op.cit., p.80-81. Cf. Matuszewski, op.&t., p.183. Cf. Przybyszewski, op.&t. Cf. Matuszewski, op.&t., p.112-113. Cf. Leszczyriski, op.cit., p.Zl-22. Both of them were sporadically used by the poets of Polish Romanticism. As an inventor and propagator of tonic verse another poet, Jan Kasprowicz, is often mentioned. Certainly, in his collection of poems Ksiega ubogich (The Book of the Poor), written in the years 1909-1915, this metrical pattern is used almost consequently in all the poems, but it is of a later date than Wyspiarlski's experiments with tonic verse and it hardly belongs to Symbolist poetics. This is to some extent subject to their syllabic length: in modern Polish in any set of words containing 7, 8 or 9 syllables a strong tendency to 3 main word-stresses is observed. In unrhymed poems in which regular, syllabic or syllabo-tonic patterns are realized, the lines always have a word stress on mostly they contain various kinds of the penultima. (Besides, word-, sentenceand line repetitions, as is the case in rhymed regular verse of this period). This practice will later be highly appreciated by one of the most eminent critics of Polish Avant-garde Poetry, Tadeusz Peiper. Cf. E.Porqbowicz, "Zapomniane harmonie. Asonansa" (The Lost Harmony. Assonance), Museion 1913, 1.