THE LYRICAL CONFESSION OF POET MILAN RÚFUS

This paper focuses on those works of Slovak poet Milan Rúfus which contain elements of confession, in the sense of a conversation with God. The paper also explores the ideas of fear, helplessness and hope in his poems dedicated to his disabled daughter Zuzanka (from the collection Psalms on the Innocent / Žalmy o nevinnej), as well as his appeals to and dialogues with God in his final collections (A Late Self-Portrait / Neskorý autoportrét, Poem and Time / Báseň a čas, Like Footprints in the Snow / Ako stopy v snehu). These poems are predominantly written in a reflective, philosophical mode, grounded in biblical symbolism and fantastical imagery.