W Niebie na Ziemi. Święci w poezji Zbigniewa Herberta w kontekście tradycji chrześcijańskiej

Abstract

The article presents the problem of the saints in Zbigniew Herbert’s poetry. They are defined as the mediators between the Heaven and the Earth, the Christian outlook and the secular. The main thesis is ambiguity of the poet’s view on the saints. It is the effect of his ambivalent and anthropocentric attitude to the Christianity. In the thesis explication, there is the term “saint” interpreted in its two meanings: in the Christianity and in Herbert’s works. Afterwards, the issue is considered for complementarity of sacrum and profanum, the role of the saints in the temporality and the view of God showed in the texts. In the conclusion, it is stated that the saints are the symbol of the worthy of humanity (rarely – its negation) in their human aspect and the witnesses of the Mystery, incomprehensible for the empiricist who loved the concrete, in their heavenly aspect.