A linguistic approach to feelings from the group of sadness in the poem by Anna Stanisławska Transakcyja albo opisanie całego życia jednej sieroty [Transakcyja or to describe the life of one orphan]

Abstract

The study aims to describe the ways of communicating, expressing and conceptualization feelings from the group of sadness in the 17th-century text by Anna Stanisławska Transakcyja albo opisanie całego życia jednej sieroty [Transakcyja or to describe the life of one orphan]. The work is unique in the context of the cultural and social standards of old Poland because it is the first such extensive attempt of secular women’s writing in Polish literature. The diary records the inner experiences of a woman deeply affected by a terrible fate. Ways used to nominate emotions from the group of sadness, the reconstruction of their conceptualization and the characteristics of the artistic means used to convey this feeling allowed for the formulation of several reflections on the author’s originality. They also allowed embedding the text in the literary tradition and show its kinship with the cognitive patterns of the Mediterranean cultural circle.