Jak purpurowy zapach róży... Metafory synestezyjne w młodopolskich tekstach poetyckich

Beata Kuryłowicz

Uniwersytet w Białymstoku

Abstract

The article attempts to describe Young Poland’s concretization of olfactory sensations. The author adopts a narrower meaning of the concept of synesthesia, therefore she is analyzing metaphors whose olfactory sensations are characterized by the reference to other senses. Moreover, the author’s aim is to establish the content hidden behind linguistic depictions of a scent of flowers, which refers to a sense of taste, touch, sight and hearing. The analyses presented in the article authorize to formulate several conclu- sions. Most of all, synesthesia metaphors allow to verbalize faintly perceptible aromatic sensations for which there are not too many primary notions. Thus they enrich and refresh a poetic language whose main task is to evoke esthetic feelings. Aromatic synesthesias discussed therein allow not only to depict linguistically something which is difficult to grasp in a language but also something which affect our imagination. Aromatic synesthesias somehow concretize scent, enable its conceptualization. On the other hand, peculiar polysensorics and simultaneous influence on different senses introduce emotional and cognitive ferment through multiplexing experienced emotions and extensive interpretative possibilities. Finally, it is worth adding that the analyzed metaphors, frequently in their shortened and condensed version, convey complicated mixture of sensations and emotions (many a time opposite), which are not easy to name in simple words.