Fragile presence. On the floristic-verbal note of Cyprian Norwid's ‘Book of Memorabilia’

A note, intriguing in its floristic-verbal hybridity, was preserved in the so-called ‘Książka pamiątek’ [Book of Memorabilia] by Norwid from 1846. This artefact, fragile in its materiality, recorded the moment when the young poet and artist left Berlin prison. This form of expression, composed of small leaves and words, can be interpreted in the context of the romantic culture of memory, but it also constitutes a case of self-communication (according to the definition by Juriy Lotman) in a unique situation, only retrospectively equipped with the function of commemoration. The floristic-verbal note can also be juxtaposed with several other analogous messages in the body of work by Norwid (a laurel leaf for Diotyma, an ivy leaf from the grave of Zofia Węgierska). It can also be included in the rich topic of plants, significant to Norwid’s work, as it turns out, in many ways, from the early to the final years, connecting and transforming in its own way the classical and Romantic imaginarium in the spirit of the transitionary era.