METAPHYSICAL AND RELIGIOUS MOTIVES IN PAVEL PETR’S POETRY

Abstract

The spiritual direction of Czech poetry reaches the period of the XIX-XX centuries, where we see the works of such authors as J. Deml, J. Zagradníček, J. Durych. Despite the difficult years of the Second World War, and later oppression by the official communist authorities, this tradition has not been lost, but rather strengthened and is represented today by a number of authors, including M. Schtor, R. Fajkus, partly M. Děžinský and others. In these authors’ poetry one can see noticeable search for a lyrical hero of the Higher Power, the search for his own place in this world, trying to unravel its mysteries. One of the famous representatives of this literary trend is Pavel Petr. Poet was born in Zlín, worked as a locksmith for some time, later was the editor of some Czech literary journals, and afterwards began to write his own works. As of today, there are eleven of his poetic books. His poetry is characterized by religious symbolism, complex metaphor, irrational imagery, the lyrical hero's search for God. Images of Peter are very rarely lined up in a clear logical whole picture. The reader may try to do it him or herself, but it is likely that such an attempt will encounter an obstacle where logic falls into a dead end and the author, as if watching it, just smiles. The lyrical hero, being in such a world, also does not know in what temporal and spatial dimension he is, where exactly to go. The only hope for a Supreme Power that can show the way through revelation. That is why in the poetry of P. Petr there is often an appeal to such a force. The author seems to be hinting to the reader so that it is impossible to understand the spiritual world by logic, and the only thing left for us to do is to apply the power of faith.