On the Drafts of the Poem “Mr. Cogito and the Imagination”

The article subjects to analysis selected motifs from Zbigniew Herbert’s poem “Mr. Cogito and the Imagination” based on the draft copies of the work that are stored in the poet’s archive. An analysis of the manuscripts, which reveals a different, hidden aspect of the final text, allows for the investigation of what was omitted in the process of creation, such as the motif of Daedal and the reference to the Upanishads, and traces the development of the significant themes of the poem: a concept of identity and the notion of tautology.