Musicality of lyrics of Lithuanian neo-romantic poet Antanas Miškinis: principles of form

Abstract

The poetics of Lithuanian neo-romantic poet Antanas Miškinis (1905–1983) was different in the pre-war and post-war periods of creation. His pre-war lyrics combine the experience of modernistic trends (expressionism, futurism) and the poetics of folk songs, which form the distinctive character of the poem. The form of Miškinis’s post-war poems is stricter and more classical (his work “Psalms” is considered as a peak of creativity of neo-romantic poet). Many researchers (RitaTūtlytė, Vytautas Kubilius, Juozapas Girdzijauskas et al.) emphasize the musicality of his work as an intonation of rhythm, pauses and melodic phrase, and analyze the specifics of versification, but the aspect of a musical form in his works is barely explored. In this study the most important principles of form and musicality in Miškinis’s pre-war poetry will be discussed. The work is based on comparative methodology and on the works of Algirdas Ambrazas, Juozapas Girdzijauskas, Vytautas Kubilius, Rima Malickaitė, Steaven Paul Scher, Rita Tūtlytė, Werner Wolf et al.