The Cultural Heritage of Judaism in the Poetry of Anna Frajlich

Abstract Evidence of the presence of references to Jewish culture in Anna Frajlich's work can be found in many of her poems. However, the connection with Judaism is most strongly verbalized in her poetic cycle “Wiersze izraelskie” [Israel poems], included in Ogrodem i ogrodzeniem [Garden and fence, 1993], Frajlich's first volume of poems to be published in Poland. The cycle was created during the author's visit to Eretz Israel in 1991. The cycle is comprised of seven parts, each with its own title, which differ in terms of subject matter, style, and genre. Poems range from a poetic picture to a lyrical joke. The poetic cycle opens with the poem “Na pustyni” [In the desert], followed by three lyrical poems that focus on the capital of the state of Israel—“Jerozolima” [Jerusalem], “Sala dziecięca w muzeum męczeństwa Yad Vashem w Jerozolimie” [The children's hall in the museum of martyrdom Yad Vashem in Jerusalem], and “Jeszcze o Jerozolimie” [Another on Jerusalem], and closes with another sequence of three parts: “Do przyjaciela w Haifie” [To a friend in Haifa'], “Z piosenką tą” [With that/this song'], and “Cezarea” [Caesarea]. The order of the poems signals the fundamental role played by the topographic and geographic dimensions of this poetry, which as a result becomes a diary of the lyric persona's travels from the south to the north (in the context of both place and time).