The journey as an experience of the Universe : Wincenty Pol’s "Obrazy z życia i natury"

"Obrazy z życia i natury" [Images from Life and Nature] are the result of Wincenty Pol’s numerous journeys through "our land"; journeys which were a source of inspiration and a unique existential experience for the writer. The collection of sketches, originally printed in 1845 and divided into two series, resembles a literary and documentary map pulsating with meanings. The work is divided into nineteen "images of the country" ("krajowidoki") which together form a quasi-reportage. The article focuses on the first series of ten images, in which the author creates a mosaic of historical Poland - from the icy shores of the Baltic Sea to the mountainous regions of the Tatra Mountains and Podhale, from foggy Lithuania to the Carpathian Mountains and the vast steppes of Volhynia, Podolia and Ukraine. Pol, a learned traveller, contemplates these regions not only from a geographical perspective, but also as a romantic wanderer searching for the spiritual depths of existence. Sensitive to what is singular and unique, he also attempts to capture the complexity and diversity of the world, to synthesise it as an organic whole. The author’s attempt to combine the generally present external viewpoint with an internal viewpoint allows for a depiction of being in its entirety and leads the author of Obrazy in the direction of personally experiencing the Universe.