“Neither a leafnor a single toothin it.” Norwid beyond romanticism

The article polemicizes with those findings in the history of literature that situate Norwid’s output within the Romantic movement, especially conclusions drawn by Zofia Stefanowska, Zofia Trojanowiczowaand Edward Kasperski, but also certain ideas developed by Rev. Antoni Dunajski, who argues that the poet’s historiosophic reflection is rooted in Hegelian dialectics (or German philosophy in general), seasoned with the Christian tradition and readings from the Bible. The authoremphasizes certain properties of Norwid’s poetics: an original concept of the protagonist, a personalist concept of history, irony, and the development of both the lyrical subject and the virtual lyrical audience, which all decidedly confirm that the poet functioned outside the said literary and ideological movement. These claims are also informed by the idea that even though Norwid operated beyond the Romantic convention, he would not embrace some other, existing trend (e.g. positivism or Parnassianism), or already represent one from the future (e.g. modernism). Instead, as a pre-modernist and precursor of contemporary lyricism, or a symbolist, he foreshadowed future literary movements. Accordingly, the article claims that Norwid’s work constitutes a separate and original phenomenon, at least in Polish literature.