Czech poetry, the Moravian-Silesian Beskydy mountains, countryside, 1st half of 20th century

The paper is devoted to Czech written poetry, which depicts the Moravian-Silesian Beskydy mountains. It is limited in time to the period between the early 1890s and the late 1940s. It is based on the assumption that the appearance of the depicted landscape is influenced by genre modes. The priority mode for displaying the Beskydy Mountains is idyllic. It is probably the agricultural character of the area, and especially the mountain method of sheep breeding, which was introduced here by the so-called Wallachian colonization, that may have motivated the poets to use this mode. Both are reminiscent of the prototypical idyllic landscape of Arcadia. The idyll also corresponds to national revival and defence tendencies. However, the ideal state belongs to the past; the present is characterised by its decline and thus also elegiac mourning for it. So, time usually brings decay. Only in exceptional cases do there be signs of its sinusoidal course, which would bring at least some idyllic features back into reality. Non-literary realities, especially the national, social and political development of the region, also contribute to the transition from idyll to elegy. This affects current life in the Beskydy countryside. Agricultural work is less familiar or replaced by factory work. The industrialization of the landscape is both an accompanying phenomenon and one of the causes of the decline of the idyll. Spiritual changes are also symptomatic. The Beskydy Mountains are connected with the national pagan tradition, which is complemented by the Christian religion. Faith is an integral part of rural life, helping people to endure life's difficulties, but even that sometimes fails. The mountains therefore also fluctuate between sacred and profane space.