Poetyckie ocalenie w wierszach Czesława Miłosza Campo di Fiori i W Warszawie .......... 367
Synopsis
POETIC SALVATION IN CZESŁAW MIŁOSZ’S POEMS CAMPO DI FIORI AND IN WARSAW
In this study, focusing on the poetic works of Czesław Miłosz, I thoroughly analyze the dual themes of historical testimony and spiritual redemption in his writings. Through an interpretation of the two poems Campo di Fiori and In Warsaw, I reveal how the poet, as a poet-witness, portrays the dual destruction wrought by war: in the material space of the city and the spiritual world of humanity. As a witness to World War II, Miłosz grapples in his work with an ethical dilemma: on the one hand, he feels a moral obligation to immortalize historical atrocities through poetic documentation as a form of preserving collective memory; on the other hand, he consciously avoids the traps of traumatizing narratives, guarding against replicating suffering in literary representation. In the context of the widespread spiritual crisis of 20th-century intellectuals, Miłosz finds his artistic path to describe tragedy – not only preserving historical truth and combating oblivion but also refraining from succumbing to national mourning and seeking beauty and goodness in everyday life. From this perspective, Miłosz’s poetic oeuvre constitutes a unique poetic force that balances the empirical and transcendent worlds.
