Understanding Cyprian K. Norwid’s “Spartacus” through the Responses of Technical Secondary School Students

Abstract

The author undertakes a discussion concerning the extent to which technical secondary school students understand poetry, using as an example the analysis and interpretation of Cyprian K. Norwid’s poem Spartacus – a text that poses considerable difficulty due to linguistic and temporal barriers. The survey was conducted at an electronic technical school in Lublin and involved 79 participants. The methods applied by the author – documentary analysis and descriptive analysis – led to the following conclusions: during poem analysis, students tend to prefer the impressionistic method; they generally remain within the sphere of literal meanings; they are unable to provide a fully accurate interpretation of the poem; they are unfamiliar with the biography of Norwid; they attempt to engage with the poet’s mode of thinking, distinguishing through appropriate formulations between subjective judgments and the artist’s reflections; they strive to support their own insights with quotations from the poem.