At the time when Ján Švantner tried to establish himself as a poet, the era of the so-called normalisation following the Warsaw Pact invasion of 1968 was just beginning. This limited the possibilities of unhindered artistic expression. The literary generation that had just arrived on the scene had a very hard time. Jáln Švantner in his early poetry did not follow the most experimental currents of poetry of the Sixties, nor did he give in to the demands of political loyalty to the totalitarian regime as many of the beginning authors have done in the hopes of establishing
a career.
The thematic bases for his début - the collection
About the Snowy Heart - are the recollections of childhood, the beauties of nature, nature`s mysteriousness inspired by his mountainous native land.
He did not add the social dimension to these themes, but gave an account of his own sentiments and inner pain. His poems abound in melancholy, sceptical and sad notes together with a boyish tenderness. Some critics at the time noted the author`s prevailing pessimism. This, however, was hardly justified as the pessimism (or optimism) of a poetic text can hardly be a criterion for the judgment of literary quality. The collection also includes poems wherein the poet pays homage to other poets (Rúfus, Lukáč, Apollinaire).
His collection
Star Attack also featured introverted poetry. Its central theme is the problem of sincerity and tolerance in relationships, while the author re-evaluates the positive and negative sides of life. He proposes poetry itself as a lyrical subject, suggesting its value as a remedy. Next to poems dedicated to love and the search for understanding woman, there are also poems about the poet`s mother and his relationship with her. All the poems are strongly emotional.
In the collection
Invisible Music, love poetry dominates. However, love here is not depicted as a joyful experience, but as something that causes pain, suffering and frustration of sentiment. The author`s view of the possibility of permanent fulfilment and happiness is rather sceptical. However, besides love poetry there are also poems with themes concerning the fate of man, and the consideration of social consequences.
In all the mentioned collections, Švantner presents poems with a metrically relaxed character, though he does not avoid classical forms, such as the sonnet or rispet.
In his fourth collection
Lamp, the author moves away from his inner world and talks about other problems as well. That does not mean that he turns into an objective observer describing only the outer (natural and objective) or social reality. He widens his thematic grasp. There are poems that attempt an objective depiction of love, others that reflect the spiritual state of the lyrical subject through the medium of natural scenery and poems that attempt to penetrate the meaning of poetry and of the creative process. There are also anti-war poems. The author`s statement was simplified in this collection, as the metaphor is tied to reality with concrete connections that are easily deciphered by the reader. Sometimes he does not even use metaphor, but directly names things and phenomena and derives a poetic effect from an unusual ordering or contexts that differ from ordinary language. In poems with a social dimension, the author uses light, but sharp irony. While in his preceding work he revealed above all his own psychological state, here he talks about other people. Naturally, his poetry is thus less introverted.
Ján Švantner is not too prolific and his production is modest. However, his emotional urgency, originality and the independence of spirit that characterize his poetry ensure that his voice cannot be overlooked in Slovak contemporary poetry.
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