Jednorazowa historia : o ośmiu (dziewięciu) wierszach Władysława Broniewskiego

Władysław Broniewski’s poetry has usually been interpreted in close connection with the author’s experiences. His poems have often been treated as a unique lyric diary, which records or comments on historical events. The way the history is told, however, is rather peculiar. The author of Troska i pieśń (Sadness and Song) was in the habit of preparing his poems very carefully before submitting them for print. With the same care he worked on the final arrangement of all his volumes of verse. The only case where he accepted the “natural” chronological ordering was a collection of eight poems (although there should have been nine of them) included in his first war volume Bagnet na broń (Bayonet On). Still, the chronological and apparently natural arrangement turns out to be much more paradoxical than any invented one, because successive poems contradict each other to the point that their juxtaposition might appear a serious compositional error: the title poem Bagnet na broń (Bayonet On), which ends with a firm declaration and commitment not to surrender, is followed by Żołnierz polski (The Polish Soldier), presenting a soldier returning from German captivity. The protagonists and speakers of the next poems are a prisoner and soldiers-wanderers, that is former prisoners. Paradoxically – since this is the poet’s view of history – the protagonists of Broniewski’s poems, forever unreconciled with the injustice of the world, remain permanently unresocializable – they do not really enjoy regained freedom but immediately put themselves into trouble again