Comparisons in 'Footpaths' by Leopold Staff

The comparisons in 'Footpaths' as an individual feature Leopold Staff's artistic technique are in line with the poet's classical lyrics. Several linguistic phenomena prove this: the high level of density of comparisons in the poems (5,2), the big linear space occupied mainly by comparisons of two- and three verses (64,2%), an indicator of unity expressed mainly through the conjunction 'as' (71,3%) and a relator in the form of a verbal predicate (68,5%). The typical character of the structure of comparisons in the collection is underlined by the appearance of the majority of comparans in the first part of a figure, as a result of which both the content and the meaning of poems is clearly exposed. The comparisons participate in creating an idealised picture of the life of country dwellers, their work, few joys and a symbiosis of man with nature, which explains why in the structure of comparans and comparant precise vocabulary prevails over abstracts terms. The subject of the poems determined the choice of a vocabulary typical for general Polish of the 20th c., well known to the reader of that time and also now.