Vojenské stroje v óde Na porážku algyrských loupežníků mořských... (1816)
Military machines in the ode “Na porážku algyrských loupežníků mořských... [On the defeat of the Algerian sea pirates...]” (1816)

Summary/Abstract: This study examines the treatment of military themes in the ode by Juraj Palkovič (1769–1850), “Na porážku algyrských loupežníků mořských... [On the defeat of the Algerian sea pirates...]” (1816), which was written to mark the bombardment of Algiers by the British-Dutch fleet on 27 August 1816 and was published in a Slovak periodical. The poem is an example of Classicist occasional poetry, in which the ancient form of the epiniki, the panegyric tradition and the factual elements of contemporary news genres converge. By combining aesthetic, informative, and ideological functions, it represents a unique example of the functional interplay between poetry and journalism in early 19th-century Slovak literature. The analysis of the ode is based on genre and poetological considerations, as well as the literary-historical and journalistic context. The aim of the study is to demonstrate that descriptions of military machinery and technical imagery do not merely fulfil an illustrative function in the poem, but form its semantic core, through which the victor is glorified, the image of the enemy is constructed, and the moral significance of the event is determined.

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