Ethical-Aesthetic Valences of the Artistic Image in Vatamanian Poetry

Abstract

This article illustrates an attempt to identify the ethical and aesthetic values in the poetry of Ion Vatamanu. Beauty is the ideal that the poet reflects through his own verses. Each volume of poetry brings a new perspective on how poetry is written in the Bessarabian space. Ion Vatamanu’s intention to write free verse and to use metaphors that shock through their mode of expression becomes a sign of courage. The ideal of harmony represents a standard of moral life and an example of perfect beauty, both of which the author promotes in his poetic creations. The varied literary and artistic images in both content and form enrich the ideational substance of the overall message. Reading Ion Vatamanu’s poems requires the reader to have the ability to think critically. This enables the discovery of new metaliterary and hermeneutic approaches to the poet’s work: freedom of expression, the desire to preserve traditions, nostalgia for the innocence of the rural space, and alienation from the native land due to excessive urbanization. The poem Basmaua depicts the inner struggle of the lyrical self with itself, as it cannot return to its homeland because it is bound by the limits of existence. Even though it resigns itself to fate, it does not give up the ideal of morality and beauty, which it reveals through unique literary and artistic imagery. The artistic sensitivity of his literary works overwhelms through the originality and depth of the literary message.