AGON AND APOCALYPSIS. ZBIGNIEW BIENKOWSKIS QUESTIONS CONCERNING MAN

The article in question introduces into the problems of Zbigniew Bienkowski's artistic creativity. The belief of the artist's crucial role in society and the conviction that poetry should constantly enter the domain of non-poetry which is to focus on the already not described issues of its epoch, was taken over by the author of 'Matters of Imagination' from the experience of the Cracow 'Vanguard'. Bienkowski's aesthetic views, however, have also a reference into long tradition. The poet refers to modernistic conception of the world and the man and - like 'Young Poland' poet - in his attempt to describe the ontic structure of the man, he resorts to the notions of 'ghost' and 'soul' (calling them 'spiritualities', he is fully aware of their stylistic characteristics). Bienkowski's references to Julian Przybos and Boleslaw Lesmian - both poets' literary forerunner - are analyzed as most important intertextual relationships.