Jeseň života alebo nová jar? Poznámky k fenoménu starnutia v tvorbe vybraných slovenských poetiek

The essay links a broader sociological and literary studies approach to the issue of old age, ageing, and ageism. On the basis of research in the field of sociology and gerontology, it outlines dominant tendencies that point to the social and individual reception of older age. The article then looks in the ways ageing-related processes are portrayed in Slovak poetry written by women over the age of sixty-five. The essay captures the basic thematic and motivic frameworks used by selected women poets to depict ageing and looks at how the transformations of the body are mirrored in the inner psychological experience of the lyrical subjects and focuses on the quality of such interpersonal relationships in the establishment or cultivation of which age can play an important role. The article also wishes to ask whether this period of life can be thought of as the so-called autumn of life, which has rather negative associations attached to it, or whether the period in question can, on the contrary, be understood as a source of new opportunities, the so-called new spring.