Rokoko. Izolacja i azyl. O poezji cyteryjskiej „kręgu Marii Wirtemberskiej”

The article relates to the part of the work by poets of the Puławy circle, which can be defined as Cytherean poetry: poetry devoted to love and friendship, presenting subtle transitional stages of amorous and friendly emotions, and kept within the Rococo style of dreaming about love. The author of the article is interested in this poetry’s evocation of a sense of isolation. In many works by the Puławy circle, one can observe a creation of space separated from the rest of the world, and a recurrent realisation of the love island topos. An island is a separate space, in which a different type of human relationship can be established, and in which some social norms cease to hold (the French word l’isle contains the same root as the word l’isolation). Puławy’s Cythera becomes a sanctuary of emotions, as if in the masterpiece L’embarquement pour Cythère by Watteau. Literary texts by the Puławy circle reflect the nature of the Czartoryscy residence as having a ‘tone, ways, customs, feelings, imaginings… separate and specific only to itself… It was Polish Paphos, or Cythera’ (K. Koźmian). Themes of isolation and sanctuary, characteristic of Cytherean poetry, cumulate in works collected in the anthology "Z kręgu Marii Wirtemberskiej" ["From the Circle of Maria Wirtemberska"].