Kwartalnik Instytutu
Jana Pawła II KUL
Lublin

The article is an attempt at a synthetic examination of the concept of beauty in Norwid’s work. The paper highlights the most important aspects of this complex problem. The author of Promethidion conceives of art and beauty as if they were transcendental categories in their classical sense, manifested by the principles of perfection and their ontological inevitability, as well as by ethical autonomy. The originality of the poet’s aesthetic concepts is, to a large extent, determined by his anthropological insight, the object of his focus being  such important issues as work, national art, folklore, and style. The concept of love—although strongly rooted in the Gospel and in the patristic thought—also finds its justification here. According to Norwid, the ultimate point of reference and the origin of love is God, whereas the human being is its subject. 

The article emphasizes the scheme Norwid used to construct his aesthetic ideas based on a specific vision of man as a being immersed in mortality, in history, as well as in the present moment, and, simultaneously, related to the ‘harmony of creation.’ Any incarnation of a creative concept requires effort and work, including physical work, at the same time paradoxically—in this physical aspect— going beyond the horizon of the earthly life. The relation of the creator to the created, by analogy to God’s creative attitude, manifests its fullness in love and through love.

Translated by Rafał Augustyn

Keywords: Norwid, beauty, love, work, aesthetics, Promethidion, Rzecz o wolności słowa, human being

Contact: Ośrodek Badań nad Twórczością C. Norwida, Instytut Literaturoznawstwa, Wydział Nauk Humanistycznych, Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawła II, ul. Chopina 27, p. 550, 20-023 Lublin, Poland

E- mail: quidam@kul.lublin.pl 

Phone: + 48 81 7436062