Jan Lechoń’s Women: A Biographical and Poetical Approach

Abstract

The article is devoted to the role of women in Lechoń’s private life and in his poetry. It addresses the questions of whether and how they shaped his personality and how their presence was realized in his work. The considerations take into account the following roles and arche­types: poetic heroines, mother, friends-mentors, and patrons. In Lechoń’s poetry, the woman is only a decoration — she is asexual, she does not appear as an object of desire. A woman in her sexual aspect is totally absent, remaining silent about her can be treated as an act of communication and a key to interpretation. On the other hand, important figures in Lechoń’s life were his mother and a group of women he subordinated to himself. He assigned a specific role to each of them.