HOME AND LANDSCAPE IN JURAJ KUNIAK´S POETRY. SEEKING AND FORMING PERSONAL IDENTITY IN THE AUTHOR´S POEMS AND POETIC TEXTS

Abstract

The primary goal of this paper is the scrutiny of the relationship between place attachment and the poetry of Juraj Kuniak, the Slovak poet, in terms of focusing on the most significant aspects of his poetic discourse pertained to home, landscape and identity. The origin of the phenomenon is also explored as well as how it affected Juraj Kuniak and his writing process. The main topics are examined in terms of how they could be used in order to foster global skills in the context of the 21st century. The motifs that show the expression of place attachment in his poetry are heavily discussed for example rootedness, birthplace bond and native land devotion. The research-based evidence consists of decoding allusions and intertextual meanings which are incorporated in the text. We have also approached the author through the medium of online communication. Our analysis reveals how diverse the function of poetry is and to what extent it can be used in real life within different target groups, i.e. students. This paper concludes that Juraj Kuniak´s poetry has got a huge potential referring to different kinds of recipients and offers a number of practical solutions of how to make poetry part of a teaching process (but not only), if used appropriately and wisely.