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Boiena Olszewska
CONTEMPORARY POLISH POETRY FOR CHILDREN
This article mainly deals with the history of the contemporary Polish poetry for children (end of XX century — beginning of XXI). The author shows how contemporary children's poetry is linked with the traditional one (and also some folklore forms), characterizes the creative styles of several contemporary poets (J. Twardowski, Z. Beszczynska, J. Kulmowa, W. Os-zajca), and points out several breaks from the tradition. The author names two main streams in children's contemporary poetry as "Lyric poetry" and "Playing with words", and speaks in detail of their creative approaches and readers' pragmatics. Especially interesting is the comparison of contemporary children's poetry samples and the classical ones (Jan Brzechwa, Janina Porazinska, Maria Konopnicka, Ewa Szelburg-Zarembina, Julian Tuwim), and also linking with the tradition of religious and ritual poetry. The authors looks at contemporary poetry for children from diachronic and synchronic perspective and shows that it is where the most interesting literary phenomena have taken place.
Keywords: Polish poetry for children, Polish children's poets, tendencies of contemporary Polish poetry for children
Our Nobel Prize winner, Wislawa Szymborska, has tried to define poetry in one of her poems entitled Niektorzy lubiq poezj$ [Some Like Poetry]. Her phrase "Poetry?... just what it is" has become popular, but does it explain the essence of this literary genre? The question mark, an indicator of rhetoric, leaves the problem suspended. How much more difficult is the situation of those who work professionally1 with children's poetry — thematically and genre-differentiated, fascinating with its unusual image, atmosphere and sound shaping, revealing the beauty of language to a child, shaping his or her imagination, intellect and emotionality, and sense of humour. Poetry teaches and entertains, and
Boiena Olszewska University of Opole, Poland bozenaolszewska@wp.pl
DOI: 10.31860/2304-5817-2021-1-19-323-336
is essential for the proper development of children. Therefore, in order to understand it and teach small recipients of art how to read difficult meanings, one must know something about it, one must commune with it. Contemporary poetry, whose authors refer to children's imagination, subculture and axiology, has not been sufficiently described. This means a multitude of authors and a variety of forms and themes. Apart from classical poets who wrote before the war and continued their work in the second half of the 20th century (Jan Brzechwa, Janina Porazinska, Ewa Szelburg-Zarembina, Julian Tuwim), as well as those who debuted after the Second World War, with an established position (Wanda Chotomska, Jerzy Ficowski, Dorota Gellner, Ludwik Jerzy Kern, Joanna Kulmowa, Jozef Ratajczak, Rev. Jan Twardowski, Danuta Wawilow), new artists appear — already known (Natalia Usenko), or only recently recognised (Michal Jankowski, Agnieszka Karcz, Rafal Lasota, Krzysztof Roguski), or worthy of promotion, such as Pawel Goluch. And while the poems of the latter ones do not shock with formal experiments, surrealistic images, fresh and original metaphors, they meet with positive reception by children. They refer to those motifs that have already proved their worth and are constantly present in literature for this circle of readers. They are dominated by themes of home, family and nature, as well as humour and subtle didactic elements. Regular verse, rhythm and rhymes make them catchy for the youngest readers.
A closer look at contemporary poetry for children from a diachronic and synchronic perspective shows that it is where the most interesting literary phenomena have taken place (greater thematic and genre differentiation, enrichment of compositional arrangements and linguistic means leading to a wider aesthetic and literary experience for the audience). After the Second World War, poetry began to increasingly flatter the tastes of young readers — their predilection for play and fantasy. It was connected with overcoming the conventions established in the in-terwar period, when the fairy-tale magical and realistic (folk) current of poetry was determined by poetry collections of Janina Porazinska, Ewa Szelburg-Zarebina, and the religious one by poetry collections of Ste-fania Ottawa, Michalina Chelmonska-Szczepankowska, Maria Czeska-M^czynska, Stefania Kossuthowna Wanda Malicka, M. A. Kasprzycka, or Edward Kloniecki. It is worth adding that at that time, religious poems were also written by authors not only connected with religious poetry (Maria Czerkawska, Lucyna Krzemieniecka, Jozef Czechowicz, Czeslaw Janczarski, Ludwik Wiszniewski). Experiences of romantic descriptive poetry, used by Porazinska and earlier by Maria Konopnicka, were still cultivated in poems about four seasons (Maria Czerkawska,
Hanna Januszewska, Tadeusz Kubiak, Ewa Szelburg-Zarembina, and Antoni Nosalski). New trends in this area, aimed at replacing sentimental descriptiveness with a word-play and a situational concept, were born under the influence of the poetic school of Julian Tuwim and Jan Brzechwa, and were reflected in the works of such authors as Jerzy Kierst, Jerzy Ficowski, Ludwik Jerzy Kern, Janusz Minkiewicz, and Wanda Chotomska. Some poets, such as Joanna Kulmowa, Jerzy Rata-jczak, Zbigniew Jerzyna, Krzysztof Zuchora, Danuta Gellnerowa, with their poetic impressions full of reverie on the charm of the sensual world, came close to the ideal of adjective-free poetry — pure poetry. The fact that artists creating for both children and adults (Ratajczak, Kulmowa, Kubiak, Julian Kornhauser, Piotr Sommer) were also involved in writing for children was not indifferent to the varied level of literary creations. While the poetry of the first three was well received, the children's books by Kornhauser and Sommer did not pique the interest of little readers. However, children had well received religious poems by Rev. Jan Twardowski, who introduced new qualities to religious verse within the created reality — merriment and humour. The humorous way of writing demonstrates the blurring of the boundaries between the sacred and the profane, the narrowing of the distance between the poet and the reader, and the change of communication relations, and the ordinariness.
The latest poetry for children, which has been "tamed" by it and elevated to the artistic rank, deals with subjects close to children, combining everyday life and uniqueness. The world presented in it is cheerful, humorous, joyful, lively, lyrical, friendly, safe, revealing, but also full of understatements and existential and philosophical reverie. We can find it in the collections of poems by Zofia Beszczynska, Jozef Czechowicz, Je-rzy Ficowski, Anna Kamienska, Ludwik Jerzy Kern, Julian Kornhauser, Joanna Kulmowa, Joanna Papuzinska, Jozef Ratajczak, Piotr Sommer, Rev. Jan Twardowski, and Danuta Wawilow. Others, such as Pawel Be-r^sewicz, Wanda Chotomska, Agnieszka Fraczak, Kalina Jerzykowska, Malgorzata Strzalkowska and also previously mentioned Beszczynska show interest in the language, which is the result of their artistic predisposition and sensitivity to the word, but it is also a consequence of their philological and humanistic education (Polish, English or German philologists, journalists, translators, lexicographers, and librarians). Less known as poets, literary and language researchers also have a philological education: Alicja Mazan-Mazurkiewicz, Danuta Mucha, Zofia Ozog-Winiarska, Alicja Ungeheuer-Gol^b, Justyna Winiarska. The list of contemporary artists is supplemented by the names of poets debuting at the end of the 20th century: Marcin Brykczynski, Dorota Gellner, Ja-
dwiga Jalowiec, Karolina Kusek, Zofia Olek-Redlarska, Natalia Usenko, Emilia Wasniewska, and Rafal Witek2. Each of these artists has developed their own technique, writing style and method. Nevertheless, there are also common elements which make it possible to distinguish several currents and tendencies in contemporary poetry. They will be determined by the way of creation of the world and the speaker, intention, themes, genres, therefore all of which will allow the child to be introduced to the world of literature through the acquisition of reading and cultural competence. These opportunities are provided by texts immersed in the world of the Bible, myths and fairy tales. Poets are not afraid to introduce more or less explicit cultural allusions into lyrical works, referring to literary works (e.g. J. Ratajczak's Robinson), musical works (e.g. W. Chotomska's Muzyka Pana Chopina [Mr Chopin's music]), as well as paintings (e.g. Karolina Kusek's Jutro b^dzie piQkny dzien [Tomorrow will be a beautiful day]).
Lyric poetry
It is the most subtle expression of thoughts and emotions; this is where the speaking subject most strongly reveals his/her attitude "towards the world, towards his/her own internal experience and towards language". Works with a hidden adult speaking subject are characterised by the syncretism of form, the presence of narrative and dramatic structures (children's lyric poetry); texts with a revealed child subject are usually maintained in the form of a lyrical monologue, they are the purest kind of lyric in which the experiences expressed in it come directly from the child's world (children's lyric poetry) [Lugowska 1979, 96-97, Waksmund 1999, 25-26, Zurakowski 1981, 96]. Lyric poetry for children is more traditional. It is represented by songs and lullabies (A. Kamienska, J. Kulmowa, J. Papuzinska), landscapes of the native land and related nature: animals, plants, natural phenomena, and seasons (e.g. Cz. Janczarski, T. Kubiak, J. Kulmowa, K. Kusek, J. Ratajczak), and religious poetry (ks. J. Twardowski, E. Wasniowska, A. Bernat, J.. Ratajczak, T. Rucinski), which has had its revival after the lifting of censorship (Kulmowa, K. Kusek, J.) The contemporary lyrical model of a religious poem departs from the sentimental descriptiveness and the catechism dominating in the 19th century, and is now replaced by lyricism, warmth, the Franciscan attitude to the world, and the joy of being able to partake in it. They are possible thanks to the creation of a lyrical subject taking up the attitude of a contemporary child — joyful, spontaneous, open to sacrum. This world, the nature surround-
ing the child's subject are treated as perfect creations of God. Elements of the world and humans who feel good in connection with nature are in balance. Beauty and sacrum constitute unity, which can be seen in the poetry of Kulmowa, Twardowski, and Oszajca. Jolanta Lugowska notes that the artists mentioned above "Liberating the adolescent viewer from the grip of a ritual that is too formal and too rigorously treated... primarily express the joy of being a believer." [Lugowska 1994,47]. No wonder that a poem often takes on the character of a prayer which, when coming from a child's mouth, sounds innocent and sincere, and more intimate. Apart from lyrical prayers and children's monologues, other forms of poetry also appear within religious lyric poetry — descriptive poetry focusing on places of worship, poetry of persuasion, hagiographies, educational poem, psalm, carol, which are often replaced by carol poems (J. Ficowski, S. Grochowiak, J. Ratajczak) genetically and the-matically related to folk carols sung during the Christmas and New Year season. The ones intended for children show more links with "literary" carols (Stanislaw Grochowski, Franciszek Karpinski, Teofil Lenarto-wicz) than with pastoral carols. They take on forms of songs, dramas and ballads [Waksmund 1999, 24]. Songs respond to a child's need for movement, singing, and are an expression of a child's sensitivity to rhythm and melody, and they belong to the regular children's repertoire. A characteristic feature of songs is their melodic nature, which indicates their links to folklore both in terms of sound, rhythm (many of them have the rhythm of popular dances — waltz, krakowiak, kujawiak), as well as content. Although they are readily recognisable by their genetic code, the title also facilitates the task, suggesting an active way of reception through singing. In contemporary works, fun is combined with education (e.g. Zbigniew Lengren's Piosenka algebraiczna [Algebraic Song]). The oldest variety of song is a lullaby, which was described in detail in the literature [Cieslikowski 1967, 66-77; Baluch 1996, Jonca 1982, Kowalczykowna 1988, Ungeheuer-Gol^b 2004, 26-68, Wadolny-Tatar 2014]. Poets gladly use this type of expression and this is why the contemporary repertoire is so varied. On one hand, we find examples of continuation and references to the traditional model, observed in the stylistic (traditional singing), atmospheric, content (traditional motifs, for example the sleeping queen, Tale Teller, the bear) layers, as well as the formal one (a model of an enumeration and repetition poem, which we find in Kulmowa and Danuta Gellner, Stanislaw Grochowiak); on the other hand, many of these lullaby-like texts do not adhere to the genotype of the lullaby [Budrewicz 1996] (Kern's Na kanapie (On the couch]). Some of the others bring new themes, motifs or toposes (Papuzinska),
have a meditative character (Zasypianka Kulmowa) and come close to the purest children's lyrics or nonsense poems [Ungeheuer-Golab 2004,56]. Zofia Ozog-Winiarska notes that the contemporary lullaby is modified by the motif of sleep and oneiric aesthetics, giving it a philosophical and anthropological dimension [Ozog-Winiarska 2002, 128]. Landscape, patriotic, and religious poems, under the patronage of Konopnicka, are still among the most popular varieties of verse. These landscape and religious poems are strongly connected with atmospheric and astronomical phenomena, with the seasons of the year (e.g. rowanberry drops red corals — autumn, Christmas — winter, snow). Transformations that take place in the natural world are presented with the help of common construction schemes and literary tricks, stereotypical motifs (painting and painting/sound ones, e.g. lark), and dynamic and static images (e.g. birds flying away, colourful leaves and trees...), which also have an ambiance-symbolic value. It would be possible to create a catalogue of the most popular ones. Regardless of the changing generations and literary movements, the same rules for the construction of a poetic picture still apply to children's poetry. Poets quite willingly use anthropomorphism, plastic epithets, and pictorial comparisons fully understandable to the young recipient of the poem. It can be a form of indirect poetry, presenting individual months in an anthropomorphised way, and when the effect is to be strengthened, a dialogue with the month-hero is introduced. Poems of this kind sometimes take on the form of a song and reveal a playful intention (T. Sliwiak Kiedy do nas przyjdzie wiosna? [When will spring come to us?]). The changes taking place in nature are observed by a poet and a nature researcher and admirer. This double look, "summed up" within the rhymed structure, facilitates combining aesthetic and educational aspects. However, it does not have the character of a teacher's lecture. In contemporary works, the charge of lyricism allows the poet to better sparkle with epithets, comparisons, animations, metaphors, and to better appeal to the imagination of the child. The escalation of lyricism, in turn, leads to the subjectification of poetic description. There are also increasingly frequent examples of typically lyrical confessions [Olszewska 1996, 30]. Undoubtedly, credit should be given here to: Ficowski, Kubiak, Kulmowa, Ratajczak, Sliwiak, and following in their footsteps younger poets Zbigniew Jerzyna and Tadeusz Szima. There are poems within the children's poetry, which Waksmund describes as "grey hour" poetry [Waksmund 1999, 24] (Cz. Janczarski, J. Papuzinska) — hours of storytelling and preparation for sleep, the contemporary variety of which may be "a fireplace poem", or "a bedtime poem". All of them are contained within the "poetry of the child's
room" [Ozóg-Winiarska 2002, 6]3. Forgotten forms of lyric poetry for children include orphan poems and pastoral poems, which nobody writes nowadays. They belong to the "social landscape of the past years" [Waksmund 1999, 22], which for young poets is a historical kitschy painting. No wonder that they turn their attention to children's poetry or word games. The current of children's lyric poetry can be considered to be the most modern because of the philosophical and existential issues undertaken by poets (life, love, illness, the mystery of passing, old age, death) — difficult, often incomprehensible for children, as well as the form — stichic or divided into small segments poems, the lack of rhyme, the use of rich, pictorial metaphors emphasising the subjectivity of the poetic vision, the lack of genre precision, which Ryszard Waksmund explains as follows: "Its typology is rather determined by the sphere of subject matter, covering various areas of child philosophy and psychology, seen from an existential perspective, in a serious way, as if through the eyes of an adult" [Waksmund 1999, 26-27]. The precursors of this poetry were Boleslaw Lesmian and Konstanty Ildefons Galczynski, and among children's poets Józef Czechowicz, Kazimiera Illakowiczówna, Julian Przybos. Nowadays, this kind of lyric poetry is practiced by Józef Ratajczak, Emilia Wasniowska, Joanna Kulmowa, Anna Kamienska, Danuta Wawilow, Joanna Papuzinska, Karolina Ku-sek, Julian Kornhauser, Rev. Jan Twardowski, Marek Pekala, Wincenty Faber. Poets are not afraid of difficult topics, and they can write in a way that a child can understand. They write about suffering, evil in the world, sadness and anxiety in a language rooted in tradition, evoking fairy tales [Zabawa 2013, 120-125] (e.g. E. Wasniewska) and touching the Mystery, also they use questions, sequences of unanswered questions (e.g. D. Wawilow, J. Kulmowa, Z. Beszczynska, A. Kaminska), poetic riddles (e.g. J. Ratajczak) and metaphors (e.g. J. Kulmowa). Many of those works fit into the current of religious lyric poetry, of which the most eminent representatives at present are: Rev. Jan Twardowski, Joanna Kulmowa, and Anna Bernat. Thanks to the creation of the lyrical subject for the contemporary child who treats the sacrum with greater spontaneity and cheerfulness, they managed to break with the stereotype of catechism, sentimental descriptiveness and seriousness prevailing in the 19th and the first half of the 20th century [Waksmund 1999, 20]. The poets show visions of the afterlife and heaven in a cheerful way, with tongue-in-cheek (e.g. Z. Beszczynska), or through poetic images that make the transition to the other side a beautiful and joyful moment (Z. Beszczynska, E. Piotrowska). Angels and birds are an important motif [Ozóg-Winiarska 2005, 268, Zabawa 2013, 125-126], with birds
often replacing angels. In Ratajczak's poems, as Zofia Ozog-Winiarska wrote, birds "are links to the world which escapes human observation, they exist and participate in the metaphysical dimension of the world. Birds link the spheres of heaven and earth, as well as different places and people" [Ozog-Winiarska 2005, 268]. They are closer to God. Passing away is depicted with the aid of nature's motifs — a tree (e.g. Kusek, e.g. D. Wawilow), a flower (e.g. K. Kusek), or a butterfly. Poets reach for motifs that used to be popular not only in Romanticism, but also in Young Poland (wandering, salamander, shadow). Reflections on passing, passing away and what is on the "other side" also appear in the current of reflective poetry and persuasion (e.g. A. Kamienska, J. Kulmowa, J. Ratajczak, M. Pekala, J. Kornhauser). It is where poets formulate anxieties, fears and doubts of the modern man and child, and pose the most important questions about the Mystery, about what we cannot grasp, what we do not understand and what is difficult to convey. And from here it is just a step away from approving Rev. Twardowski's statement on a good poem: "I think that every good poem is a religious poem, even if it is not called so. After all, it reaches the deepest, it touches upon the relationship with the Mystery." [Twardowski 2007, 293]. For example, Kornhauser's poem:
Nie, nic nie konczy, nie konczy niebo, nie konczy ziemia, nie konczy si$ drogi, lasy i morza. Dlatego idz przed siebie, licz powoli kroki [Kornhauser 1981, 45].
No, nothing ends, the sky does not end, the earth does not end, roads, forests and seas do not end. Therefore, go forwards, count your steps slowly [Kornhauser 1981, 45].
Such poems, following the example of adult literature, give their reader time for reverie, reflection and conclusions. The understanding of the existential and philosophical issues is supported by texts that include childhood symbols, reminiscences and projections. Their authors allow themselves to see philosophical and ludic images of the world through a child's eyes. The adult subject speaking, if he or she appears, sympathises with the child and accepts their world of values, their view of reality as in Ratajczak's poem W krolestwie nocy [In the Kingdom of the Night].
W nocy wierszem mowi kanarek, myszka wchodzi do zamku przez szpar^. Z wojny wraca olowiany zolnierzyk do pudelka, gdzie pulk caly lezy. Lalka suknie bez przerwy przymierza, w niebie z gwiazd^ spotyka si$ wieza. W
szafie rzeczy mowi^ do rzeczy. Tylko ten, kto nie usn^l, zaprzeczy. A krol nocy z berlempod glow^ zlote jablko gryzie jak owoc [Ratajczak 1986, 10]
At night, a canary rhymes, a moa mouse enters the castle through a crack. A toy soldier returns from the war to the box, where the whole regiment lies. A doll keeps on changing dresses, a tower meets a star in the sky. In the closet things talk to things. Only those who have not fallen asleep will deny. And the king of the night with sceptre under his head bites the gold orb as it were an apple [Ratajczak 1986, 10].
No wonder that here we see poems with a fairy-tale atmosphere, as well as those that bring back images from childhood — home, play, readings, behaviours... Children's dreams and imagination become "a fully-fledged poetry-forming matter" [Waksmund 1999, 28] "Lyric of children's dreams and imagination" — Waksmund writes — is based both on an anecdote (a document of children's behaviour) and on oneiric threads and daydreams, which are the expression of a desire to increase the manifestations of one's own existence. Through poetic "reconstructions" and projections, the subject not only saves the remains of his or her own childhood experiences (forgotten language), but also points out to the young recipient those values of his or her age that they should not lose in adulthood [Waksmund 1999, 28]. The value of these texts is their subtle lyricism, facilitating the inclusion of educational elements and axiology.
Playing with words
It is a group of works under the patronage of Brzechwa and Tuwim. This group is one of the children's favourite readings, because the authors refer to children's folklore (ludic) and popular folklore in the layers of sound (onomatopoeias, vocal instrumentation), lexis (style, dialect, jargon), syntax (syntactic parallelisms, anaphors, epiphora), composition (riddles, fun questions) and content (absurdities, nonsense). Contemporary authors try to satisfy children's preferences for ludic behaviours, especially word games: tongue twisters, puns, nonsense verses, counting-out rhymes, neologisms, sound imitative words, homonymous and synonymous constructions, surprising combinations and associations, paronomasias, etc. Poets use devices incorporating a particular position of letters, syllables, rhymes, words, sounds and associations, and their poems are just sheer fun. The liveliness of fun makes children assimilate certain language contents unwittingly. In the works of
poets such as: Marcin Brykczynski, Wanda Chotomska, Lukasz D$b-ski, Agnieszka Fr^czek, Kalina Jerzykowska, Malgorzata Strzalkowska, dominated by the element of linguistic play, surprising juxtapositions, enumerations, unusual words, a child encounters phonetically interesting and broadening vocabulary. Playing with language, and thus its sound, can be found in the texts written by Brzechwa and Malgorzata Strzal-kowska, homonymy and homophony in e.g. Ficowski's poem Dziwna rymowanka [Strange Rhymes], etymology in Tuwim's Figielek [Little Prank], and phraseology in Brzechwa's Androny [Gibberish]. These poems are open to the active reception by children, just like ideographic (pictorial) poems that draw the reader into the play (Kern, Kornhauser, Wawilow, Kierst). No wonder that here we see such diverse genres as: nursery rhymes, "what if..." poems, counting-out rhymes, riddles, questions, onomatopoeic poems, proverbs poems, bumpety-bumps, poems for games and plays, or poetic plays. The genre names derive from the substance of work — construction of the depicted world (topsy-turvy poems), a poetic concept (proverb poems), a recurring motif or some phraseological cluster (bumpety-bumps), anaphor ("what if..." poems), a question or a sequence of questions (queries), or rhymes. These poems are of an utilitarian character, they have didactic function (they provide language and communication skills, develop cultural competence), and they constitute an attractive material for logopaedic and articulatory exercises (e.g. Malgorzata Strzalkowska's Mowa polska [Polish Speech], Kern's Wiersz, w ktorym syczy przez caty czas [Poem in which it hisses all the time], Urszula Kozlowska's Chrzqszcz i gqszcz [Beetle and Reed]), grammatical and spelling exercises (Strzalkowska's Wacus Daisy, Urszula Butkiewicz's Mowka sowki do mrowki i innych bajekpotstowki [Owl's Speech to the Ant and 50 other fairy tales], for recognising and remembering graphs (Lukasz Debski's (G$sie rozmowy o mi$sie [Goose Talks about Meat], Jak (w) dym! [Like (in) smoke!] by Agnieszka Fr^czek, alphabet poems — Abecadlo [Alphabrt] by Wawi-low), to make one aware of the semantic role of the sound/letter (Jedna literaka a zmiana wielka [One letter makes a difference] by Fr^czek.
Zlapal paj^k smoka w SIEC. — Teraz sobie w sieci SIEDZ! — smial si$ w glos, a wi^zien CZUL jak mu kapie pot z trzech CZOL... [Fr^czek 2011, 36]
A spider caught a dragon in the NET. The dragon, who was called NED, knew that the only chance he HAD was to put in good use his triple HEAD [Fr^czek 2011 36]
Some of these poems have a counting-out and repetitive structure. It also explains why the counting-out rhyme belongs to children's favourite genre forms, finding wide application in their activities — games and plays. In all these variations, one can see a clear (often mnemonic) rhythmic frame and the enumeration of elements of the presented world. Poets probably introduced numerous repetitions, like those of Konopnicka, because of intonation values [Budrewicz 1987, 25], which are important for children. No wonder that these poems are characterised by subtle lexis and childlike and colloquial syntax [Ostasz 2008, 138]. All of them, together with the children's favourite counting-out rhymes, were created for play, as were those whose "construction and semantics stem from the unlimited possibilities of a child's imagination". [Waksmund 1999, 16]. These include tales of lies (in Polish: niebylice), thrilling tales, topsy-turvy poems and riddles, "what if" poems, and questions that have a folklore background.
* * *
Contemporary poetry for children develops bipolarly. On the one hand, it draws on the patterns of adjective-free poetry, on the other, the artists use the area of children's imagination and subculture. However, they always try to give their words a mark of originality, novelty, which can be seen mainly in the area of the lyric poetry. "Children's poetry — as Joanna Kulmowa writes — is an unspoiled form of communal song, a folk fairy tale that contains lasting archetypes, shows the unreal, and is also characterised by wit, mental shortcut, aphorism — the least ageing creations of human thought, and this is precisely the victory, and that is why it is worth writing for children" [Kulmowa 1991, 3-5].
Notes
1 I think here about the work of those scholars who tried to define children's poetry, to systematize it: J. Cieslikowski, A.Baluch, J.Lugowska, M. Ostasz, J. Papuzinska, A. Ungeheuer-Gol^b, R. Waksmund, K.Zabawa, B. Zurakowski.
2 This list is by no means complete. It does not include the list of collections of
poems from the years 1990-2012 compiled by Anita Zabinska and published on the Internet, which includes local, niche and own publications [Zabinska; Zabawa 2013, 114].
3 Such terms are used by Zofia Ozog-Winiarska, who places the "poetry of the
child's room" next to, on a par with the "fireplace poem" and the "bedtime poem". For me, "poetry of the child's room" is a category superior to other poems, as it is not limited only to the use of night motives.
Bibliography Sources
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Божена Ольшевска
Опольский университет, Ополе; ORCID: 0000-0001-8755-3078 СОВРЕМЕННАЯ ПОЛЬСКАЯ ПОЭЗИЯ ДЛЯ ДЕТЕЙ
В статье основное внимание уделяется истории польской поэзии для детей второй половины XX-начала XXI вв. Автор раскрывает связь современной детской поэзии с традиционной польской поэзией для детей (в том числе и некоторыми фольклорными формами), характеризует творческую манеру отдельных поэтов (J. Twardowski, Z. Beszczynska, J. Kulmowa, W. Oszajca), обозначает точки разрыва с традицией. Автор предлагает разделить современную детскую поэзию на два основных направления: «Lyric poetry» и «Playing with words», подробно говорит об их художественной специфике и читательской прагматике; предлагает сопоставление образцов современной детской поэзии с творчеством классиков этого направления (Jan Brzechwa, Janina Porazinska, Maria Konopnicka, Ewa Szelburg-Zarembina, Julian Tuwim), раскрытие связи с традицией религиозной и обрядовой поэзии. Автором предств-лен взгляд на историю польской детской поэзии с диахронической и синхронической позиции, что позволило выявить ряд интересных литературных явлений в этой сфере.
Ключевые слова: польская поэзия для детей, польские детские поэты, тенденции в современной польской детской поэзии
