Water and Earth, or about the Texts of Tomas Venclova and Their Role in the Literary and Cultural Education of High School Students

Abstract

The article aims to pay attention to the functions of aquatic and earth motifs present in Tomas Venclova’s works. In light of the analysis of texts such as From Travel Diaries and Describe Vilnius and the poet’s selected poems, the author distinguishes several intertwining functions of these motifs, e.g. mood-creating, image-creating, (self-)reflective. They are subordinated to the main function diagnosed by the author – memory. The final part of the article is devoted to reflections on the use of Venclova’s texts in Polish language classes in high school as contexts, i.a., of Polish Romantic and 20^th-century literature, as well as the role of selected works of the Lithuanian writer in the literary and cultural education of contemporary youth.