“I speak czech and english” Transactions Between Languages in Poetry
“I speak czech and english” Transactions Between Languages in Poetry

Summary/Abstract: The first part of this article considers the broader context of multilingualism in poetry. I discuss, f irstly, the linguistic situation in the Czech lands since the nineteenth century, when Czech estab lished itself as a cultural language in the German environment; secondly, the question of national literature within the broader framework of Weltliteratur; and finally, the specific use of different languages in poetry. Against this background, I examine the poetry of Ivan Blatný, who appears to be a multilingual poet by nature, as opposed to authors who exchange one literary language for an other. In addition to Blatný, I examine several poems by Ivan Schneedorfer, who wrote mainly in Czech, but also wrote some English poems. In conclusion, I analyze examples of poetry that I de scribe as being located between Czech and English, while taking other languages into account.

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