The Change of patriotic poetry evaluation in the twentieth century

Abstract

Historical reality of Lithuania caused the abundance and popularity of the poetry, expressing patriotic attitude to the world. In different periods the creators, writing patriotic poetry are either exalted as the nation unifying and activating factor, or their work is accepted as a utilitarian construct, low corresponding to the criteria of the real art. The aim of the study – to reveal historical and social environment impact on evaluation criteria of literary texts, exploring the intersections and mutual influence of artistry and suggestibility criteria pronounced in the media. It is based on the example of a popular Lithuanian poet, Bernardas Brazdžionis. The study revealed a trend that in relatively calm historical period the value of patriotic poetry is determined according to the harmony of form and content – that means, the criteria of artistic expression, ideological relevance and suggestibility are equally important. So the patriotic poetry goes in the same range as all other literature. But everything changes when society feels the threat to its national state, nationalism and habitual existence. In these periods (World War II, the Soviet occupation, etc.) patriotic poetry becomes especially important and most appreciated by the public. Historical events (time) and place of residence (space) allows the exchange of the evaluation criteria of patriotic poetry, as this poetry is valuable so far as it is able to match the realities of public life. At the end of the twentieth century the critics establish patriotic poetry somewhere in the margins of literature – it is acknowledged that the criteria of its evaluation are a little bit different from those applied for the treatment of other fiction works. And the first criterion to determine the value of a patriotic poem is suggestibility, and only then the coherence of the content and the form or any other criteria of artistry follow. However, the wider field of the nation‘s worldview [...].