Studia Językoznawcze

The purpose of the article is to reconstruct the linguistic creation of a dog in the songs of Jacek Kaczmarski and point to the functions of the image of the animal created by the poet. A dog in the songs of Jacek Kaczmarski is pictured in accordance with our cultural stereotype. Its valuation is bipolar – positive or negative, and frequently ambiguous at that, as it depends of the point of view and perspective adopted by both the sender and receiver of the message. It is the perspective adopted by the dog which reveals its most positive image. The dog characterizes himself as an animal full of love and attachment to the owner who humiliates him. The human point of view valuates the dog in general negatively. The dog is regarded as something inferior which can be tormented and humiliated with impunity. Only occasionally the common misfortune or similar likings of the quadruped and its owner create a particularly strong bond between the animal and its master. The dog in the songs of Kaczmarski is not only a tormented animal, but also an extremely aggressive, bloodthirsty beast, devoid of any moral principles or the sense of solidarity with other animals, even with his brothers – the wolfs or dogs. However, this multi-faceted creation of a dog should be considered in the social and political context, which constitutes the main interpretative perspective of all the songs performed by Jacek Kaczmarski. From such perspective the creation of a gentle animal, intimidated, passive, subject to a constant drill symbolizes an individual or society enslaved by a totalitarian regime. A bloodthirsty beast, particularly a hound, is a symbol of the aggression of the communistic power apparatus. This multifarious creation of a dog was attained with the use of numerous linguistic devices. The most frequent include the enumerations, metaphors, comparisons, and epithets. An interesting instrument of the linguistic creation are the paradoxes.