Xavier Forneret odczytany przez surrealistów i czytany Norwidem

The author discusses the history of Xavier Forneret’s (1809–1884) reception focusing on the trend which portrayed the Romantic as a surrealist and a precursor of vers libre. At the heart of the considerations there is the volume Vapeurs, ni vers, ni prose (1838) regarded as exceptional in both the publishing format and the content. The author, however, argues that the poet’s innovation can also be seen in his presentation of typically romantic themes: love, death, poetic vocation, as well as oneiric poetics. The last part of the article is a comparative analysis of the Forneret’s poem “Elle” and Cyprian Norwid’s poem “Polka” [Polish Woman], which allows showing both romantic anticipations and traditional forms of poetic description of a woman.