On the Dramatic Poems of Franciszek Lasocki. Reflections After Reading "Przed wybuchem", "Całopalenia", "Po klęsce"

Abstract

Franciszek Lasocki wrote his trilogy about the January Uprising using the structures of a dramatic poem. He considered this form adequate to talk about the matters of the struggle for the freedom of the Fatherland. It is a popular romantic genre with a hybrid structure, which combines combines epic, lyrical and dramatic elements. Lasocki was not focused on experimental activities. In his case, a dramatic poem is a strategy of building a literary text, time and space, as well as problems that are important to the author and recipients. In his dramatic poems, Lasocki wanted to make concrete the tragedy of a nation in captivity, which demands the right to independent existence. He tried to emphasize the martyrdom and metaphysical features of the January irredenta inscribed in the myth, explaining its essence with spiritual strength. The author presents himself as a revelator of Polishness. He repeats the Romantic patterns established in the social consciousness, acting in the conviction that popular literature, while remaining faithful to the adopted model, brings the reader relief, the source of which is the faith proclaimed by Lasocki in the victory of the immortal idea of freedom and the triumph of historical justice.