Mit, obrzęd i duchowość Afryki w Czarnych słowach Anny Świrszczyńskiej

Abstract

Myth, Ritual and Spirituality of African people in Anna Świrszczyńska’s “Black Words”. The paper provides an analysis of poem collection entitled “Black words. Negro stylizations” published by polish poet Anna Świrszczyńska (Swir) in 1967. It studies the ways in which the African subjects are constructed, mostly in the aspect of their relations to the non-human beings: animals, monsters, plants and personalized natural phenomena. It is argued that Świrszczyńska refers to indigenous beliefs (animism, totemism, fetishism, magic) in order to question Western anthropocentrism and propose alternative perspectives, emphasizing fierce and unconscious human motivations. In the poems the radical otherness of black Africans is highlighted, but nonetheless the collection expresses a sense of solidarity, especially with black women and elderly people.