Poetyka romantyczna Melodii irlandzkich Thomasa Moore’a
The Romantic Poetics of Irish Melodies by Thomas Moore

Summary/Abstract: Thomas Moore, composer and poet, published his Irish Melodies in ten subsequent volumes (1807–1834) as lyrical poems with musical accompaniment. In the first decades of the nineteenth century, songs sung solo and with the accompaniment of individual instruments became a new, emancipated way of artistic expression. In Moore’s time, it was a new medium, extremely desirable due to its capacity of reconciling authentic lyrical expression and mass distribution of texts. On the one hand, a new reader/listener of such works could represent a national or ethnic group heading for political emancipation, and, on the other hand, the performer or the addressee could be an individual personality seeking emotional identification with native legends and local history. Moore's song was part of the cultural trend of the democratization and politicization of literature in the era of revolution and liberation movements. According to the philosophy of Romanticism, music was a language of spirit and a voice of feelings, so the performative combination of poetry and music provided an opportunity to express meanings about personal and autobiographical experiences, and at the same time the experiences of a community, which could be symbolic and transcendental. In Moore’s Irish lyrics, as in the works of many other poets and philosophers of the time, there occur a characteristic sacralization and mythologization of art as an attribute of “Old Erin”, the legendary but lost land of harpers, which was old Ireland. Its tragic story in Moore’s poetry also refers to the history of Europe and America, as the history of the struggle for freedom. His songs, as pieces that could be performed in any space and for any type and size of audience, were an ideal means of expression and a vehicle for national iconography in the political culture of the time.

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