The article presents the work of Polish poet Cyprian Kamil Norwid in the context of writers born in 1821 (Charles Baudelaire, Gustave Flaubert, Fyodor Dostoevsky). The author compares Flowers of Evil to Vade mecum of Polish poet. Such a comparision reveals the innovation of Norwid’s form, but this innovation is accompanied by traditional ideas. This traditionalism is evident as well in poet’s dramatic works. The author tries to answer the question why Norwid’s plays have never been successful on stage which is the case of Pierścień Wielkiej Damy ( A Ring of a Geat Lady). The play is very well constructed, but its ending can raise doubts concerning a psychological probability. The play’s main faults are poet’s hermetic language and a verse form: a blank verse inspired by Shakespeare and difficult to present on stage in Polish language.

This article attempts to follow the dynamic process of body communication between the characters of Juliusz Słowacki's Samuel Zborowski (1845, published 1903). An analysis of some passages at the beginning of the drama and in the penultimate act indicates that in the world of the drama the body functions as a medium and body language is at least as important as the spoken word; or, to be more precise, the two types of communication complement one another. In the encounter between Eolion and the Maiden the bodies act as repositories of spiritual memory (a key idea of Słowacki's Genesian philosophy) and can trigger the process of anamnesis, which combines elements of heterosexual eroticism and the affective touch of physical interaction. Moreover, the ensuing scene of judgment hints at a nostalgic relationship between the spirit and the body, the latter acting as a guarantor of a coherent identity, though to some extent undermined by the new model of polyphonic identity. Finally, these scenes are analyzed from the point of view of the performative-persuasive functions of the body.

This is a deconstructive reading of Juliusz Słowacki's Lilla Weneda, focusing on Ślaz, an enigmatic character usually marginalized in interpretations of this quasi-historical Romantic drama. Drawing on Professor Marta Piwińska's study of ‘Lilla Weneda’ in Dramat polski: Interpretacje (2001), this article explores the gaps and fissures in Słowacki's text. While complementing her analysis with a number of alternative readings, this article also uses deconstruction to challenge some of the points that are embedded in the traditional reception of the drama.