TY - JOUR AU - Igliński, Grzegorz PY - 2021/05/28 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Heaven in butterflies. Insects in the poetry of Józef Bohdan Zaleski JF - Bibliotekarz Podlaski JA - bp VL - 50 IS - 1 SE - Literature studies DO - 10.36770/bp.584 UR - https://bibliotekarzpodlaski.pl/index.php/bp/article/view/584 SP - 189-202 AB - <p>The subject of this work is the zoomorphic and micrological imagination that characterises the poetic output of Józef Bohdan Zaleski. The analysis is limited solely to the motifs of worms and insects as the most ephemeral animal forms. It thus comes closer to thematic criticism in the methodological aspect. A reading of the texts has shown that the poet does not use the name “worm”; instead the term “little worm” is used only twice, but only in relation to insects (in everyday language the term “worm” is often used to refer to the larval form of an insect, or even its imago). The poetic world of Zaleski is dominated by butterflies (a silkworm being one of them). They give a picture of a poet sensitive to the beauty of nature, a liberated soul, love and playfulness, dreams and raptures, the past and the future. In addition, the poet mentions bees, though less frequently, and occasionally flies, midges, ants and skylights, mostly serving to characterise humans. Insect motifs do not (with minor exceptions) evoke negative associations in Zaleski’s poetry.&nbsp;</p> ER -