Poetic Representations of Uncertainty

Abstract

The article presents forms and strategies of representation of uncertainty in contemporary Polish poetry, subject to state of the art and to the manners of perception and communication prevailing in a certain culture. Poetry deals with reality both verbally and nonverbally in the poetic sign. Different strategies were applied in the last century: starting with the creation of an alternative sign formula and imitation of mechanisms of the current state of the mind (psychosphere) as well as the system of activities, and ending with the expression of uncertainty in antithetic, interrogative, and situational structures (often focused on a detail). The resulting representation of uncertainty depends on overall cognitive optics and on the understanding of the sign. The pragmatic aspect of Peirce’s theory of the sign makes it particularly useful for expressing uncertainty as an acceptable worldview attitude. The poetical strategies of four Polish poets, Tadeusz Peiper, Julian Przyboś, Tadeusz Różewicz and Wisława Szymborska, are scrutinised and considered from this perspective.