Dom utracony, dom odzyskany... (?) : powrót do 'małej ojczyzny' w wierszu Czesława Miłosza 'Dwór'

Czesław Miłosz’s poem Dwór [trans. Manor] may be understood as the author’s poetical recollection of visiting his homeland. This return results in a specific temporal and spatial perspective. A noiseless walk through a place which once was both close and well-known is an impulse for comparisons between the present and the past, and for personal thoughts of existential character. The artistic descriptions of the changes at the Nevezis river and the physical absence of the manor, positions time as the enemy of men and nature. This image finds its conclusion in the comparison of the man to the manor. As a consequence, the poem becomes a commentary of the inevitable passage of time and the need to make peace with one’s fate. Nevertheless, the poem is not pessimistic. The passage of time loses to life, which cannot be obliterated. Although each life is destroyed, it is also eventually restored through procreation.