ABSTRACT
In the poetry of Stanislaw Baranczak, Adam Zagajewski and Paul Muldoon, exile assumes a linguistic form. For these poets, linguistic exile presents a form of intellectual dissidence. Both Baranczak and Muldoon use non-literary language to make their poetical expression more authentic and powerful, and to expose the use of language in official discourse as an ideological strategy. Zagajewski's intellectual dissidence is manifested in the dialogic nature of his poetry: his lyrical speakers conduct a perpetual dialogue with history through which they attempt to find a possible escape from historical necessities and a balance between the real and the spiritual life. The variety of forms of irony employed by the three poets illuminates the function of irony as a means of critical engagement with political and historical realities, but also articulates the poets' preoccupation with belonging. The inescapability of the feelings of homeliness and unhomeliness for all three poets is closely related to the issues of political and historical violence.
