Abstract
The article is devoted to methods of constructing images of water, the sky, the moon, night and day in a poetical cycle which is now counted as the beginning of Polish Romanticism. It should be noticed that Mickiewicz’s descriptions of nature refer to common knowledge of the world, triggering specific archetypes and sets of imaginings in reader’s consciousness. I mean here associating water with transparent sparkling/glossy objects or skilful reconstruction of emotions accompanying the observation of the night sky, which in consequence gives, for instance, artistic
description of illusionary blending of the sky and water. Mickiewicz introduces neutral lexical elements corresponding to specific designates, elements of nature, e.g. forests, flowers, water, swamps, backwoods, the moon, stars etc., in a thoughtful and orderly way. In accordance with the Romantic convention words that are opposite to the set of neutral words typical of other epochs, the ones which are emotionally or stylistically featured e.g. diminutives, which are one of the ways of folk stylistics (cloudlet, rivulet, pebbles, brook), regionalisms, which are also characteristic of colloquial language (month for “the moon”, depth, bluish/livid, brook), are introduced as well. However, the lack of complex stylistic structures is surprising indeed. Romantic ballad-like convention as well as folk tradition make extended metaphors be scarce, e.g. personifications and animizations referring to literary tradition (water’s face, river’s arms, Świteź’s womb/lap, midnight will pull the curtains through), periphrases (the chasm/depths of sky-blue, water deep gulf, glassy plain), or comparisons (as smooth as ice pane). Among natural phenomena discussed above Mickiewicz describes water in the most beautiful pictorial/artistic way. Using an extensive semantic field of water, he shapes and organizes a poetic text where the power of water as nature element is omnipresent in an extraordinary way. Lexis referring to the semantic field of the night, moon and stars, and most of all – day, is represented much more humbly.
