Bernardas Brazdžionis - herald of freedom: poetical rhetoric of emigrational lyrics

Abstract

The Lithuanian poet Bernardas Brazdžionis (1907–2002) became an active public figure after he had emigrated to the West in 1944. He became the editor of the Lithuanian encyclopaedia. He edited the magazine Lietuvių dienos [Lithuanian days] and was the chairman of the Lithuanian Writers' Society. Being an émigré Brazdžionis published several collections of poetry, where the most important theme was the motif of freedom of his homeland. His emigrational lyrics hugely influenced Lithuanian résistance against the occupants and the people in the revival period after declaration of independence. In this article some peculiarities of the rhetorical expression of Brazdžionis's emigration poetry has been analyzed. The comparative methodology has been used for analysis, combined with the research by J. Girdzijauskas, A. J. Greimas, Yu. Lotman, W. Wolf, etc.