Adam Mickiewicz, Boleslaw Lesmian, Czeslaw Milosz - on various occasions and in various contexts each of them has been referred to as the Greatest Polish Poet. Marian Stala, a distinguished literary historian and poetry critic, brings these three names together in one book. Stala chooses to look only at fragments of the poetry of the three masters...
Adam Mickiewicz, Bolesław Leśmian, Czesław Miłosz - on various occasions and in various contexts each of them has been referred to as the Greatest Polish Poet. Marian Stala, a distinguished literary historian and poetry critic, brings these three names together in one book, but is far from offering a 'triple monograph' that could be used in schools. Stala chooses to look only at fragments of the poetry of the three masters. For example, in his discussion of Mickiewicz, the author focuses only on the late Liryki lozańskie / The Lausanne Lyrics and his chief purpose is to search them for vestiges of poetic greatness, for those qualities that turn a poem into a masterpiece. Reading Lesmian, Stala surveys the relationships between the spirit, the soul and the body. In Milosz's poetry, he looks at the poet's quest for reality and at his records of ecstasy, which bring together a variety of experiences: of oneself, of the world and of God. Stala possesses that unique ability, invaluable in a literary critic, of recognising universal meanings and values in each poem he reads. The quality of his latest book is a consequence of this ability. (Jerzy Jarzebski)
- Marian Stala
The Three Eternities / Trzy nieskończoności
Wydawnictwo Literackie, Krakow 2001
© Marian Stala, rights available
123 × 197, 260 pages, paperback
ISBN 83-08-03170-6