The mythical in Plūdons’ collection of poems “Pirmie akordi”

Abstract

The article is dedicated to Plūdons’ first collection of poems “Pirmie akordi” [First Chords], published in 1895 by L. Neimaņa publishing house in Jelgava. In his first collection of poems, Plūdons focuses on realizing and transforming ideas of national romanticism. In terms of artistic quality, Plūdons’ first collection can be evaluated ambiguously – on the one hand, it is a new author’s attempt at poetry, with heterogeneity of content and expression, yet on the other hand, in this collection, Plūdons’ qualities are not yet fully realized; later improving and reaching their highest peak in his subsequent collections. The collection is divided into several chapters, paying special attention to lyrical poetry and also to satire and irony. Plūdons uses the characteristic features of national romanticism in the collection in two ways, for example by transforming the binary opposition “ideal past-present” into a narrower form of expression, talking about the lyrical hero’s childhood as the ideal past and the life of an adult as the present. However, in the context of satire and irony, Plūdons addresses more directly the wave of pseudomythology which is typical of national romanticism. An important accent in Plūdons’ collection is space-time and its mythologizing. The analysis of this collection allows the reader to learn about Plūdons – one of the most powerful Latvian writers of the 20th century.