His first poems appeared in the magazines
Svojeť, Elán, and
Slovenské pohľady. They exhibit the influence of symbolist and postsymbolist poetics. The motif of solitude that is found in his work from the very beginning is not a negative feature, as it is usually connected to the wider socially significant issues. It involves the search for a connection with the life of other people, harmonising with the attempt to improve the conditions that would create a happier life.
The second period of Bunčák's work is connected with Slovak surrealism (
nadrealism, i. e. overrealism - the specific Slovak term for this poetic movement) that proclaimed its adherence to the principles of the French surrealism and the Czech poetism. Bunčák at first preserves the organic continuity with his previous work, but gradually his poetry assumes more and more the characteristic features of surrealism. There are interpolations of natural, intimate and social motifs with loose imagery, and a humanistic and anti-war orientation. He does not fall prey to depression and loneliness, but searches for authenticity and love, being sure that its time will come. Even in the most intimate moments, his poetry is connected to the social sphere.
In his work of the war period and immediately afterwards he expresses his optimism about the coming of a better new world. Here, the contradictory motifs of loneliness, sadness, but also the beginnings of new life and human happiness can be found.
The symbol of his poetry and his ideas about the human life is the heart.
However, in his poetry this symbol has its inevitable counterpart - the intellect. It is poetry reaching for the harmonic coexistence of emotion and reason. It exists on the level of a profound reflexive lyricism whose motif point of departure is only an inspiration for poetic images and ideas about life and death, love and truth, poetry and science.
In the last period of his work, there is an effort to synthesise poetic reflections with the search for the meaning of life and the eternal desire of man to penetrate ever more deeply into the spheres of human existence and beyond the limits of the known.
Bunčák's poetry is an expression of values that were supposed to fill the human life with love, understanding and happiness. He seeks permanent harmony of values full of optimism and trust in the human life by actively participating in the real dimensions of life. The very last period of his work includes motifs and reflections on his trips to Paris, but also poetry about women, ordinary things, and verses inspired by music and fine arts.
Viktor Timura
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