The research “Echoes of Latvian Dainas in the Lyrics of Velta Sniķere” examines motifs and fragments of Latvian folk songs in the poetry by Sniķere. Several poems that directly reveal the montage of folk songs are selected as research objects. Linguistic, semantic, hermeneutical and historical as well as literary methods were used in poetry analysis.
The research emphasizes the importance of Latvian folklore in the process of Latvian exile literature, the genesis of modern lyrics, and the philosophical conception of the poet. Latvian folk songs in the lyrics of Sniķere are mainly perceived as a source of ancient knowledge and as a path to the Indo-European first language, prehistoric time, which is understood only in a poetic state.
Often, the montage of Latvian folk songs or their fragments in the lyrics of Sniķere is revealed as a reflexive reverence that creates a semantic fracture and opposition between profane and sacred view. The insertion of a song in the poem alters the rhythmic and phonetic sound: a free and sometimes dissonant article is replaced by a harmonic trochee, while an internationalism saturated language is replaced by a simple, phonetically effective language composed of alliterations and assonances. The montage of folk songs in a poem is justified by the necessity to restore the Latvian identity in exile, to restore the memory of ancient, mythical knowledge, to represent the understanding of beauty and other moral-ethical values and to show the thought activity.
Common mythical images in the lyrics of Sniķere are snake, wind, gold, silver, stone etc. The Latvian folk song symbolism and lifestyle of the poet are organically synthesized with the insights of Indian philosophy.
Highlights of the symposium on gold/silver catalysis, EuropaCatV, Limerick, Ireland, 3–5 September 2001
