Alexandru Macedonskis Poetics

Abstract

This paper approaches Alexandru Macedonski's poetics and the educational aims of this paper are to develop the students' skills in understanding and interpreting coded messages, their abilities of analysis and synthesis, to cultivate their aestethic values and to stimulate their creative and logical thinking, their spirit of observation and their capacity of research. After a short presentation of poetics in general, the stress is laid on the poet's poetics. First, the paper focuses on describing the social poetry and afterwards the notion of poem. Speaking about the essence of the poem, the poet points out that it can be seen as a synthesis of humanity. Next, Macedonski's poetry is tackled according to certain psychological values, such as illusion, mirage, elevation, ecstasy, suggestion. Therefore, poetry is pure exaltation and reading a poem will transpose the reader in a state of contemplativity and ecstasy. Another aspect which is dealt with in this paper is related to the fact that Macedonski turns the sensorial factor into one of the fundamental conditions of poetry, becoming very receptive to the theory of correspondences between sounds and colours. This paper highlights also the role Macedonski gives to sounds in his poetry, while he rejects risky visual associations. Further on, the paper brings into relief various figures used by the poet in his symbolistic - instrumentalist program. In the end, the emphasis is laid on the poet's intention to associate symbolism, instrumentalism and wagnerism.

Keywords: Poeticssocial poetrypoempsychological valuessensorial factorpoetical instrumentalism

1.Introduction

Poetics is that branch of the theory of literature that deals with the study of poetic creation through

structural linguistics and on the other hand, it must be able to “account for the structural essence of any

poetical object” (Greimas, 1970, p. 280). Semiotic poetics considers that “the complete and exhaustive

motivation of the linguistic sign is the specifics of the poetic language” (Kristeva, 1977, p. 462).

René Wellek and Austin Warren tried to make an association between poetics and criticism. Their

theory is based on the fact that poetics is the study of the principles of literature, of its categories and

criteria and criticism deals with the very analysis of works (Wellek & Warren, 1977, pp. 55-56).

Regarding the connections between poetics and linguistics, R. Jakobson gives great importance to

linguistics, considering that poetics is a part of linguistics (Jakobson, 1973, p. 210). From Jakobson's

point of view, poetry appears as a special language, which tends to become opaque and where the

connection between sound and meaning is manifested most strongly possible (Jakobson, 1973, p. 241).

Poetry is a special type of communication, as opposed to ordinary communication.

2. The Social Poetry

As the notion of poetry has several stages in Macedonski's lyrical creation, the students will use a

lot their capacity of research. At first, Macedonski's vision about poems takes current meanings from the

romantic aesthetics. The first definition launched by the poet is that of the social poetry. This formula

opposes the literary trends of the era. The program of this poetry is first militant in social and

humanitarian terms. Later, it turned into a more general principle, which represents one of the constants

of the poet's aestetics: poetry as an expression of the human universal contents.

With the volume Poems which was published in 1882, Macedonski aims at writing “about man

and his suffering in the middle of society” (Demetrescu, 1885, p. 15), becoming the spokesman of the

humanity drama. The poet reflects the ideas of the mankind, through sensitivity and his own life

experience. “To be able to think, one must suffer and the poet who has not suffered is not a thinker.”

(Macedonski, 1882, pp. 9-12). It is exactly “the energy of pain” (Macedonski, 1882, p. 12), which

inspires the poet's social revolt, his purpose being both noble and saint, since poets love, caress and sing,

as recommended by all partisans of social art, supported by romantics and utopian socialists, before and

after 1848 (Needham, 1926).

By their abilities of analysis, the students find out that through his social poetry, Macedonski

manages to theorize the raising of the human soul to universality. It is obvious that the program of this

poetry is opposed to lamartinism and to the superficially sentimental poetry. The poet will always be the

supporter of the idea that “nothing that is human as well as nothing that is comprised within the empire of

knowledge, will be away from the true poet” (Macedonski, 1916, p. 31).

3. The Notion of Poem

In correlation with the idea of social poetry, another key concept appears in Macedonski's verses,

that of poem, which the students, relying on their abilities of synthesis, have to take as a global definition

of poetry and even of art, understood as an expression of life, the ideal being “the literary projection of

total humanity, conceived as some unity of moral contraries” (Marino, 1967, p. 642). Macedonski sees in

Shakespeare and Musset's literary creation the embodiment of his own poetical ideal: “A poem must be

what Musset and Shakespeare tried; there should not be only one passion in a poem, but all the passions

and all the feelings of the heart should be involved” (Macedonski, 1881, p. 1).

The students observe that for Macedonski, the notions of man, reality, life, poem are and remain

more or less synonymous all the time. One might say that “Macedonski is really obsessed with the idea of

poem as an integral and complex expression of humanity, contemplated in time and space, in extension

and depth” (Marino, 1967, p. 643). Even in The Night of January , the poet speaks about the essence of the

poem, which can be seen as a synthesis of humanity: Este o poemă-ntreagă de-a fi plâns şi suferit [...]

Este o poemă-ntreagă să poţi zice: Am iubit. [...] Sufletul e o poemă cu un cer nemărginit. (Macedonski,

1966b, p. 95).

The poet appears as a source where his life intensity is concentrated: “He is the representative of

all human feelings and thoughts. Inside thinking, he is by turn: good - bad, sublime - vulgar, noble -

trivial, virtuous – vicious, magnanimous - selfish, faithful – skeptical, a judge - a criminal, generous -

greedy, cleansed of passions – full of feelings. In a word, he is the Mankind.” (Demetrescu, 1885, p. 6).

The poem cannot be subordinated to a certain genre, it must contain everything. There are some

discussions in relation to the meaning which poetry may have in Macedonski's conception. Therefore,

there comes a question: What is poetry to Macedonski? The answer to this question may come after the

analysis of his literary work: the poetry of poems is one of the fundamental topics of his work, along with

the topic of the genius and of the poet. “But to Macedonski, poetry is not only a literary genre, a simple

form of lyrical expression. It is also a style of life, a way of being and seeing the world and life, a specific

form of emotion in front of existence, a feeling, some enthusiasm. It is a very particular emotional state,

some immediate lyrical reality” (Marino, 1967, p. 645). Macedonski refuses to give a precise definition to

poetry or to analyze it, as he is the adept of poetry as ineffable, which cannot be analyzed in its essence.

Through their capacity of research, the students discover that for Macedonski, poetry is also a lack

of adhesion and a form of social criticism. He appears in the middle of the society, but he is pushed

towards the periphery and thus, the poet cannot be integrated. This impossibility of integration is clearly

explained by his biography as well: declassification, poverty, education, temperament, literary vocation.

There is no connection between the scale of values of the contemporary world and his own scale of

values. “Where the era says interest and mean calculation, Macedonski says «enthusiasm»; where the

bourgeoisie says, «banker», «politician», «respectable head of the family», Macedonski says «Poet»,

writing it with a capital; where the bourgeoisie says «money», Macedonski says «Poetry» also with a

capital” (Marino, 1967, p. 646).

For these reasons, Macedonski worships poetry, ranking it first in the hierarchy of spiritual values.

The poet adapts his basic definition of poetry to the style and nuances of the contemporary poetics. “From

here, in Macedonski's literary creation, at times, some aesthetic air, of a clear and continuous nuance of

the contents and subtlety of the expression. This makes his poetical theory represent a decisive stage in

the evolution of the Romanian concept of poetry, a bridge between social poetry, the poem and so

romantic poetry to symbolism and generally to the idea of some poetry based on images,

correspondences, musicality, emotivity, suggestion and ineffable.” (Marino, 1967, p. 647).

4. Poetry According to Certain Psychological Values

Although in conflict with the society of his time, after 1884, the poet will not give poetry a

predominantly social destination, but he will try to cultivate “poetry as a form of survival and moral

compensation, as an active spiritual therapy” (Marino, 1967, p. 664). The poet will understand poetry

according to certain psychological values which will orient his compositions. It is about illusion, mirage,

elevation, ecstasy, suggestion. Analyzing such compositions, the students' aesthetic value is stimulated, as

Macedonski shows poetical sensitivity and responsiveness, and they urge him to align aesthetic beauty.

Thus, the poet comes to conceive aesthetic emotion as an authentic je ne sais quoi , and poetry, totally

spiritualized, must convince, “as everything is beautiful will be imposed, and nobody will be able to

realize how and why” (Macedonski,1880, p. 6).

The students have the possibility to observe how aesthetic emotion becomes something absolute,

and poetry, according to the definition in the Rondel of the Murano cup (Macedonski, 1966b, p. 206), is

pure art, without sentences, which helps us come out of reality and forget about existence, just like the

Japanese does with the water in his courtyard, in The Rondel of the Water in the Japanese's Courtyard

(Macedonski, 1966b, pp. 227-228): Şi schimbând-o-ntr-o cascadă / De consoane şi vocale, / Uită-a vieţei

grea corvadă, (Macedonski, 1966b, p. 228).

Through their abilities of synthesis, the students can observe how the fundamental topics in

Macedonski's poetry reappear theorized in his poetics. The poet is armed with great illusions, which have

always been a source of inner beauty for the mankind.

Poetry is pure exaltation, personality is frequently forgotten and reading a poem will transpose the

reader in a state of contemplativity and ecstasy. “The most typical echoes associated with the poet's most

intimate aspirations to elevation and ecstasy can be captured in the volatilisation of flavors, in the

excitement brought by lily and rose fragrances, a poetical feeling in Samain, Morés and Stuart Merrill's

literary creation. The poet knows that exceptional drunkenness is to be found in lilies” (Firan, 1971, p.

80). Deşi, când atinşi sunt de vară, / Mor pâlcuri, sau mor singuratici, / În crini e beţia cea rară / Sunt

albi, delicaţi, subţiratici. (Macedonski, 1966b, p. 201).

There are some discussions about poetry and logic, which stimulate the students' logical thinking.

Maceodonski separates the essence of the poetical activity from the logical one, considering that between

the two there is no adherence: “Poetry is only indirectly connected with thinking, as it is only a thing of

imagination... An exposure of ideas, no matter how passionate or philosophical they might be, cannot be

what is called poetry, even when it is deployed in harmonizations produced by rhythm or rhyme ... In a

word, to think is not to be a poet. It is to be thoughtful...” (Macedonski, 1895a, p. 3).

Macedonski supports this dissociation from the very first year of Literatorul , when he speaks

about the logic of poetry, considering that poetry applies images, while thinking uses concepts.

Macedonski considers that the principles of logic have no value in poetry, that poetry is guided after some

specific logic, and prose after another type. The poet accepts the idea that poetry may be logical, but he is

firmly convinced that in such a context, poetry would not be poetry.

In order to support his belief, the poet comes up with a number of metaphors, which are suggestive

in poetry, but totally irrational at the level of thinking and then he concludes: “in poetry everything that is

beautiful is called logical” (Macedonski,1880, pp. 23-25). Similarly, H. Bergson will demonstrate that

,,there is… some logic of imagination, different from that of reason, which it opposes at times” (Bergson,

1946, pp. 31-32 ).

Macedonski's theory does not stop at this level and going further, the poet proves its originality

through the conclusion he reaches: “the logic of poetry is sublimely illogical” (Macedonski, 1880, p. 25).

There will be also other theoreticians of the paradox of poetry who will have the same point of view

(Maritain J & Maritain R, 1938, p. 13).

The poet dissociates the logic of poetry from the logic of prose, logic from imagination, the

concept from the image and claims that if some writing is “completely logical for poetry”, it becomes

“completely illogical for prose” (Macedonski, 1880, pp. 23-25)and the other way around. Contrary to

appearances and expectations, Macedonski's thinking does not evolve into imagism. He conceives the

process of poetical creation and the whole structure of poetry, relying on his enthusiasm and sincerity,

where the image and the nuance spring from.

5. The Sensorial Factor, a Fundamental Condition of Poetry

Through their abilities of analysis and skills in understanding and interpreting coded messages, the

students have the task of finding the connection between senses and Macedonski's verses. Thus, they

discover that the role of senses in poetry is essential for Macedonski: “Poetry itself depends on the good

condition of senses; one can even say that Poetry is only their exaggeration” (Macedonski, 1895b, p. 3).

He sees art and poetry as an expression of intense sensitivity, as powerful writings are the creation of

some people with strong temperaments.

Macedonski turns the sensorial factor into one of the fundamental conditions of poetry, and the

refinement of the images will depend on the subtlety of senses: “The representation of this feeling

through a special way of expression – that of the image, of the colour and of harmony – is the one and

only poetry” (Macedonski, 1895b, p. 3).

Through their spirit of observation, the students find out that the attention, paid to sensations in

poetry by Macedonski, makes him very receptive to the theory of correspondences between sounds and

colours, which appears since the eighteenth century (Baudelaire, 1925, p. 305). This theory is propagated

also by the romantics, including Musset (Barine, 1922, p. 115) and through Baudelaire, it will come to the

symbolists, anticipated by Rimbaud, Verlaine, René Ghil (Morrier, 1961, pp. 114-117). The fact is that

Macedonski has such intuitions ever since 1880, when these conceptions had a reduced circulation in

France and they could not come up to him.

The analogies the poet draws between chromatics and certain emotional values, starting from

visual, musical sensations seem to reveal the real substance of Macedonski's correspondences, which will

always remain of musical essence. “For the poet, his whole life is organized in a musical universe, of pure

sounds, where each sensation has a corresponding symphonic accord” (Marino, 1967, p. 654).

In the period of his debut and in the early years of Literatorul , Macedonski showed great interest

in the imitative harmony, the onomatopoeia, a poetical technique with a long literary tradition, well

known since antiquity (Demetrios, 1943, p. 87).

There are many supporters of the imitative harmony in the era of Renaissance and Classicism, in

the eighteenth century, in 1785, Maurice de Püs publishing an Imitative Harmony of the French

Language , in four songs, in alexandrine verses, where formulas and principles alternate with examples

(Morrier, 1961, pp. 177-179).Linguists contemporary to Macedonski, such as Hugo Schuchardt and

Maurice Grammont analyze this theory (Marino, 1966, p. 1).

The students' skills in interpreting coded messages is stimulated, as they have to observe, how

Macedonski intervenes at the level of the sonority of the text, where the attention is moved from the

signified to the signifier, using the onomatopoeia, which is, by definition, a phenomenon of imitative

harmony.

The poetical function of this figure is given, firstly, by the power of suggestion, making the

plasticity of the evoked object enhance by the living representation of the visual aspect and of the

movement: Bolţile lung vuvuiră , facla-n mâini mi se stinsese, (Macedonski, 1966a, p. 311), Încât de-abia

se-aude un lin susur de apă (Macedonski, 1966a, p. 357).

Macedonski composes his own imitative harmonies. It is about the verses of the poem The Burial

and All the Sounds of the Bell, (Macedonski, 1966a, p. 350) and of the poem The Fight and All Its

Sounds, (Macedonski, 1966a, p. 351). Regarding the first poem out of the aforementioned ones,

Macedonski asserts: “There are many who, not understanding the meaning of the imitative harmony, will

not be able to treasure the effort I made to write these verses – I try to imitate the sounds of the bell, by

associating intentional consonants” (Macedonski, 1882) : Un an, –– dând d-ani, leag-an d-an, –– d-ani

vani […] / Undà-n ochi lacrămi la tristul ton, / Undà, –– undà, –– undà, –– undà! (Macedonski, 1966a,

p. 350).

In the second poem, by the association of the sounds ri-ră-ri-ră-ra and of the sounds ta-ta-ti-ta ,

the poet tries to reproduce the fanfares of the trumpet: cavalerii / Răriră-ale rânduri. Redeşteptat-a /

Titanica fruntea munţilor antici / Sunetul repede and next, through the association of other sounds, the

noises of the battle are suggested: Zgomotul / Urcă, semnalul de luptă, lovitura / Tunului dându-l. — Pe

loc fac foc flintele; / Trapăt scadroanele (Macedonski, 1966a, p. 351).

The Fight and All Its Sounds was first published in Literatorul , in april 1880, with the subtitlle

“ Imitative Harmony ” and it is preceded by an introductory note, About the Imitative Harmony , signed

Bonifaciu Florescu: “Ennius imitated the sound of the trumpet in the verse: At tuba terribili sonitu

taratantara dixit . Victor Hugo imitated the screeching of the nail on the wall, through the verse: … qu’il

tombe et se rattache / De l’angle à leurs parois . Tasso imitated the sound of the trumpet in the verse: Il

suono della tartarea tromba . Vergiliu reproduced the galoping of the horses: Quadrupedante putrem

sonitu quatit ungula campum . The imitative harmony is the best proof that the poet can do from the verse

what he wants. We met the noises of actions in various poems, but we did not see a poem only of

imitative harmony, which in so few verses should express so many sounds, without invented words, such

as taratantara etc.” (Macedonski, 1966c, pp. 428-429).

Macedonski does not provide a proper theory of the imitative harmony, but it is obvious that he

relies on the fact that without “musical hearing”, nobody can “create art out of syllables and words,

without considering their euphonic value” (Macedonski, 1888, pp. 96-102). The part of euphony,

respectively of the musicality of the word, was to contribute to the power of suggestion of the poem, to

the transmission of the poetical idea.

6. The Poetical Instrumentalism

Later, the poet seems to be receptive to another formula meant to perfect the expressiveness of the

verse and he adopts René Ghil's instrumentalism, which he assimilates and interprets in his own way.

A series of discussions about instrumentalism are developed in connection with the question: What

is the essence of instrumentalism? René Ghil starts from the phenomenon of colourful audition, of the

double perception, visual and auditiv, illustrated also by Rimbaud's sonnet Vowels : A noir, E blanc, I

rouge, U vert, O bleu… . Thus, he develops the theory from vowels, which get other visual values

(Etiemble, 1939, p. 254), to consonants, making associations with the sounds of some orchestral

instruments. O , for example, of a supposedly red nuance, would fit “the grave series of saxophones”, r ,

associated with the vowel u , would correspond “to the series of trumpets, clarinets, flutes and small

flutes.” (Tieghem, 1960, p. 260). It is obvious that certain words, in addition to their notional meaning,

transmit emotions through their sound. It is enough that the reader should perceive only one vowel in

another manner compared to René Ghil's and his entire colourful orchestra will not sound the same to the

reader. (Gourmont, 1920, p. 183).

Starting with 1890, Macedonski associates the notions of instrumentalism and symbolism, a series

of poems appearing with the subtitle, symbolistic - instrumentalist ( The old rock, Dead Friendship, The

Rhymes Sing on the Harp ). In 1892, in the manifesto The Poem of the Future , the poet asserts:

“Instrumentalism is also symbolism, with the difference that sounds play the part of images in

instrumentalism” (Macedonski, 1892, p. 2).

Considering this interpretation, one can say that instrumentalism is freed from any visual

correspondence, and the poet, who had asserted ever since 1880 that “each letter in the alphabet stands for

a musical tone” (Macedonski, 1882, p. 21), is ever more prepared to support his theory. First of all,

Macedonski approaches the music of the poetry in a traditional manner, relying on his own intuition,

rejecting the risky visual associations. The expressive value of the sounds remains an essential idea, with

definitions which will subsequently appear at phoneticians such as Maurice Grammont (Grammont,

1933, p. 384).

Macedonski asserts: “It is not less true that the closed sounds such as î, u, ă will awake sad and

dark sensations and the grave sounds such as a, o will arouse sonorous, solemn sensations” (Macedonski,

1895c, p. 625).

Macedonski is tempted to see musical notes in letters, as he does when talking about one of

Arghezi's early poems, “where each letter changes into a musical note” (Macedonski, 1896, p. 4). This

tendency proves that the poet had adopted the musical aesthetics of symbolism, in a personal manner and

he emphasizes the organic unity between the word and emotion.

There is a real art of “speaking” (Onimus, 1965, p. 2) in verses, and Macedonski asks a musical

ear from poets. Since the beginning of Literatorul, the poet believes that poetry can be written only by

those who master the language very well, knowing in detail the degree of harmony that will result from

the combination of the letters in words and from the association of those letters and words. Viewed from

this perspective, the alphabet is a real musical art, and the art of the verses is nothing but music. Thus,

symbolism develops and strengthens Macedonski's ideas related to the aesthetic musical implications of

the poetic language: “In symbolism, sounds play the same role as that of the images. The alphabet, cannot

be disregarded by those who have the sense of harmony. As in music, the combination of several notes

gives a total which takes us into an ecstasy of sensations, the letters, the tonic accents and the rhymes act

the same in versification” (Macedonski, 1895c, p. 625).

In Macedonski's symbolistic – instrumentalist program, there are several types of sonorous figures:

the internal rhyme, the rhythmic changing, the alliteration, the assonance, the phonic propagation, the

refrain and the students should resort to their ability of analysis, capacity of research and creative thinking

in order to find and interpret them.

The interior rhyme, which the Group µ calls internal rhyme, is a figure which is frequently used by

Macedonski: Sufletul ce se avântă cântă cu frunză, cu apă, / Şi cu parfumul din floare de închisoare se

scapă, (Macedonski, 1966b, p. 179);

Another figure used by the poet in his program is the rhythmic changing, and this is to be found in

the poem In the Secrets of a Forest , in the last verse of each of the three quatrains that make it up: În

arcane de pădure întuneric ce spăimântă. / Frunza tace lângă frunză şi copac lângă copac; / Noapte

tristă, noapte mută, noapte moartă, cer opac –– / Dar privighetoarea cântă, dar privighetoarea cântă.

(Macedonski, 1966b, p. 123).

Macedonski goes from the trochaic verse with only one median caesura to a verse that adds

another caesura after the first and after the ninth syllable. Thus, the rhythmic picture is enriched with a

surprising effect, along with the song of the nightingale in the desolate depth of the night. Sometimes, the

poet associates this figure with the alliteration in order to achieve some refined harmony, as in The

Golden Epode: Sub cerul de zori printre nori / Surpare de roze din raze / Şi ochi rouraţi de extaze / Şi

flori peste tot şi fiori . (Macedonski, 1967, p. 130).

In the symbolistic – instrumentalist program, the poet resorts also to the phonic propagation, which

consists in irradiating the verse horizontally or vertically by using accumulations of vowels or

consonants: Deunăzi către ziuă visasem că murisem…(Macedonski, 1966b, p. 33), Ah! plină, inima mi-e

plină (Macedonski, 1966b, p. 64), Dar port în suflet un mormânt, / Şi-ntr-însul, mort, avântul.

(Macedonski, 1966b, p. 77).

The most frequently used musical figure in Macedonski's lyrical creation is the refrain, which

dominates his entire poetical technique. “The magical character of Macedonski's poems and their

obsessive virtue are to be found in the technique of the refrain. Repeating the first verse at the end of a

four verse stanza is a repeatedly used means by Macedonski. Some other times, the system of refrains is

more complex and the resulting musical harmony becomes more ample and richer” (Vianu, 1970, p. 418).

In the poem Dead Friendship (Macedonski, 1966b, pp. 70-71), it is not only the first verse which comes

back, but also other verses of the poem are repeated, having the same form or a modified one. Thus, the

entire composition appears as a web of repeated refrains and verses, with a fundamentally musical

structure. Tudor Vianu goes up to the point of naming it a woven composition.

Macedonski uses the technique of the refrain in order to create the framework of his old age,

because in this period, the musician poet, master of the word, conceives the rondels, poems with a fixed

form, which are published posthumously in 1927 in the volume: The Poem of the rondels.

In the symbolistic stage, the idea of poetical musicality is intensified and becomes subtle. As well,

one can notice a shift from melodic to symphonic, under the influence of wagnerism. Many poets begin to

see in Richard Wagner's music “the symphonic expression of their own inner ineffable aspirations”

(Michaud, 1961, pp. 206-208, 325) (Coeuroy, 1965, pp. 249-286) and Macedonski manifests the intention

to associate symbolism, instrumentalism and wagnerism, a fusion in which he sees the poetry of the

future: “Just like wagnerism, symbolism united with instrumentalism is the last word of the human

genius” (Macedonski, 1892, p. 2).

It seems that the previous principle gave Macedonski the idea of the syncope, of the elision and of

musical silence. But wagnerism does not leave noticeable traces in the concept of poetry of the poet, who

will subsequently reject it vehemently, considering that it can easily break the aestetic rules, the symmetry

and destroy the rhyme. In fact, the poet has never counted on the simple external musicality. He has

always cultivated the sonorous aspect of the word, in association with the corresponding internal

vibration. In versification, he has always focused on “sincerity and passion” (Martial, 1897, p. 6) not on

empty sonorities.

At last, Macedonski rejects Verlaine's musicality as well, a fact which limits the influence of the

symbolistic aestetics at the level of the poet's conscience: “Verlaine said: the poet should be «nuance,

image, music», and beyond it, everything he writes is just ... literature. The French poet's definition may

be replaced with another one according to which there is no poetry beyond sincerity and enthusiasm. It is

obvious that sincerity and enthusiasm do not exclude either music, or the image, or the nuance; all three

come out of the two” (Iorgulescu, 1900, pp. 7-8).

At this level, in the poet's opinion, the word, the language, the art of the verses keep only that

significance of expression of some interior contents, defined as a diffuse musical state, when “everything

sings inside us and around us” (Combarieu & Macedonski, 1921, pp. 7-8).

7. Conclusions

The main approach of this paper was the presentation of Alexandru Macedonski's poetics. After an

introduction about poetics in general, the paper focused on the description of the poet's social poetry, the

students' capacity of research being very important, as they have to find the program of this poetry, which

was first militant in social and humanitarian terms and later, it became the expression of the human

universal contents. By their abilities of analysis, the students find out that through his social poetry,

Macedonski manages to theorize the raising of the human soul to universality.

Further on, the stress was laid on another key concept, that of poem, which the students, relying on

their abilities of synthesis, have to take as a global definition of poetry and even of art, understood as an

expression of life. There are some discussions in relation to the meanings which poetry may have in

Macedonski's conception. The poet refuses to give a precise definition to poetry or to analyze it, as he is

the adept of poetry as ineffable, which cannot be analyzed in its essence. Through their capacity of

research, the students discover that for Macedonski, poetry is also a lack of adhesion and a form of social

criticism. Being the adept of poetry as ineffable, Macedonski worships it, ranking it first in the hierarchy

of spiritual values.

The paper continued by pointing out the fact that after 1884, the poet understood poetry according

to certain psychological values: illusion, mirage, elevation, ecstasy, suggestion. Analyzing such

compositions, the students' aesthetic value is stimulated, as Macedonski shows poetical sensitivity and

responsiveness, and they urge him to align aesthetic beauty. The students have the possibility to observe

how aesthetic emotion becomes something absolute, and poetry is pure art, without sentences. Through

their abilities of synthesis, the students can observe how the fundamental topics in Macedonski's poetry

reappear theorized in his poetics.

There are also some discussions about poetry and logic, which stimulate the students' logical

thinking. Macedonski supports the idea that the poetical activity is totally different from the logical one,

considering that between the two there is no adherence, the principles of logic having no value in poetry.

Later, the emphasis was laid on the sensorial factor in Macedonski's poetry. Therefore, through

their abilities of analysis and skills in understanding and interpreting coded messages, the students find a

strong connection between senses and Macedonski's verses, the refinement of the images depending on

the subtlety of the senses. Through their spirit of observation, the students find out that the poet is very

receptive to the theory of correspondences between sounds and colours. The analogies made by the poet

between chromatics and certain emotional values, starting from visual, musical sensations seem to reveal

the real substance of Macedonski's correspondences, which have musical essence.

Another aspect which was highlighted in this paper is related to Maceonski's interest in the

imitative harmony. The poet intervenes at the level of the sonority of the text, the attention being moved

from the signified to the signifier, with the help of the onomatopoeia, which is, by definition, a

phenomenon of imitative harmony and therefore, the students' skills in interpreting coded messages are

stimulated.

This paper also stressed that the poet adopts René Ghil's instrumentalism in order to perfect the

expressiveness of the verses. Some discussions about instrumentalism are developed in connection with

the question: What is the essence of instrumentalism? René Ghil develops this theory from vowels to

consonants, making associations with the sounds of some orchestral instruments. Macedonski associates

the notions of instrumentalism and symbolism, relying on the role of sounds in poetry and rejecting the

risky visual associations.

In Macedonski's symbolistic – instrumentalist program, there are many types of sonorous figures:

the internal rhyme, the rhythmic changing, the alliteration, the assonance, the phonic propagation, the

refrain and the students should rely on their ability of analysis, capacity of research and creative thinking

in order to find and interpret them.

In the last part, this paper emphasized that in the symbolistic stage, the poet brings forth the idea of

poetical musicality. Through their spirit of observation, the students can notice a shift from melodic to

symphonic, under the influence of wagnerism. Macedonski manifests the intention to associate

symbolism, instrumentalism and wagnerism, a fusion in which the poet sees the poetry of the future.

Subsequently, the poet rejects wagnerism, as it is not the empty sonorities that matter to the poet, but the

association between the sonorous aspect of words and the corresponding internal vibration.

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