Krótka historia „O!” (wokół utworu Julii Hartwig)

Abstract

WitoLd sadoWski University of Warsaw a sHort History oF “o!” (aroUnd jULia HartWig’s PoeM) the paper presents the main evolutionary stages of the exclamation “o!” in european poetry from antiquity to modern times. a pretext for the research is julia Hartwig’s poem “o!” in which “o” is both an initial element of the proper text and the sole word in the title. However, the article can also be read otherwise, in which case the analysis of Hartwig’s O! is considered as the main topic whereas the repertoire of meanings and functions of “o”, as preserved in the literary tradition, serves as its pre-text. semantic variants of “o!” in greek and Latin literature are also indicated and seen as variants derived from a division into two functions, namely an appeal to the addressee, and an appeal to the superaddressee. next follows an outline of a process through which autonomy from national languages was granted to “o!,” thanks to which the word became an international lexeme of poetic language. the illustrative material is taken from english, French, german, italian, Polish, and Provençal literatures.