The Significance of Imagination in Becoming a Nation: Poetry in Late Nineteenth- Century Lithuanian Newspapers Aušra and Varpas

Abstract

This article examines the role of poetry published in the late nineteenth-century Lithuanian monthly periodicals Aušra (The Dawn, 1883– 1886) and Varpas (The Bell, 1889–1905) in shaping modern Lithuanian national consciousness. Although Aušra has traditionally been interpreted within the paradigm of Romanticism, the article argues that its poetry cannot be considered Romantic in the full aesthetic sense. Instead, it functioned primarily as an instrumental, socially oriented discourse that employed selected Romantic motifs in the service of nation-building.

Drawing on theories of nationalism (Miroslav Hroch), narrative and cultural imagination (Martin Puchner), and productive imagination (Paul Ricoeur), the article analyses how poetic language in Aušra constructed an imagined homeland grounded in moral values, historical idealisation, and collective identity rather than individual subjectivity. Particular attention is given to prophetic and religious rhetoric, images of divine protection, and the figure of the committed individual, all of which together shaped practical models of ethical and social behaviour.

While Aušra’s poetry relied on prophetic and moral imagination oriented toward collective awakening, Varpas transformed imagination into a productive civic force, shaping models of responsible action and individual commitment. Drawing on Paul Ricoeur’s concept of productive imagination, the article argues that poetry in Varpas no longer projects an ideal future but actively shapes models of civic action and responsibility.