This study was undertaken with the desire to reveal Karol Wojtyla as an artist and to show how his poetry may be of value for those on a spiritual journey today. When looking at Wojtyla’s writings, it became clear to me that an understanding of his formation as an artist in Poland, which during the years of the Second World War came together with his spiritual formation, is central to understanding his specific role in the fall of the Communist regime in Central Europe. My study, coupled with Wojtyla’s interpretation of the Rhapsodic Theatre, reveals his view of the unique role of culture in a nation’s history, and also how the Rhapsodic Method is “one piece” with his poetry, as well as an extremely effective methodology when applied on the world stage.
This study outlines the historical and political context in which Wojtyla grew up - which notably connected art with the struggle for spiritual and national freedom - to a setting out of Wojtyla’s interpretation of Rhapsodic Theatre in his own words. When looking at Wojtyla’s poetry, which I see as an extension of the Rhapsodic Method, the work of the poet Cyprian Norwid is presented as a key figure to understand Wojtyla’s unique writing.
A description of The Place Within, a workshop devised for this study, is given as a way of documenting how people may be helped to interact, and gain spiritual insights from, Wojtyla’s poetry. These chapters indicate how the poetry may be used in a pastoral context. The workshop is described, observations made and an interpretation of those observations given by linking the poetry output of the workshop with the language strategies employed by Wojtya. In conclusion I look at how a “non-literary” reception of Wojtyla’s poetry is a useful concept when considering the pastoral use of the poetry.
This study employs a qualitative research method and is cross-disciplinary; varied sources are used - historical, biographical, philosophical and literary. However, the ultimate focus of this work is theological, because of Wojtyla’s role in history, and also because the subject of his poetry is about the soul’s journey towards God.
The primary source material for this study has been Wojtyla’s poetry itself, his writing about Rhapsodic Theatre and his various addresses that include his thoughts about culture and art. Jerzy Peterkiewicz, Professor Dybciak and Boleslaw Taborski’s writings about Wojtyla’s poetry have been invaluable, as they are seemingly the only people to have represented Wojtyla’s artistic thought to non-Polish speakers. Peterkiewicz, in particular, reveals the poet Cyprian Norwid as a key figure to understand Wojtyla’s writings in a literary context.
Lastly, I am very grateful to Marta Dziurosz for her translations of Professor Dybciak’s book Karol Wojtyla – the Literature. A small selection of these translations is included in the conclusion. Dziurosz’s translations, taken as a whole, for me reveal Wojtyla in Polish consciousness. At the end of this study I am left with something I had no awareness of at the start - a strong sense of how much Western Christianity and culture would gain from apprehending Wojtyla the artist, as well as knowing him as the man who was Pope.
