A sample of romantic and political mythology. Some remarks on Olga Daukszta’s “Griffin”

Abstract

The presented article focuses on Olga Daukszta’s epic poem “Griffin”. Written at the turn of the 1930s and 1940s, the poem constructs specific Polish and Christian identity on the lands of former Polish Livonia and contemporary Latvia. Daukszta, who considered herself Polish as well as German, Tatar or Samogitian, lived in the region where various nationalities met, co-existed and fought over centuries. In the time when Polish identity in Latvia was suppressed, she was pointing out the Polish components and aspects of Latvian history. In order to justify specific national and political rights, in her poem she constructed romantic mythology that re-interpreted certain symbols and allegories (like griffin, lion, but also St. George, etc.) and put them in the context of European and Christian culture in general. The poem was never published, nevertheless, it became an interesting attempt to create a local but somehow diverse identity in a rather typical romantic way.