Entangled languages in the poetry of the Baltic countries

ENIn a multilingual cultural space such as the (former and contemporary) Baltic region, oral and written multilingualism has been a normality than an exception during its history. This also finds an expression in the poetry of this region. Several literary cultures have co-existed here, and boundaries between the languages are not clearly drawn. Poetry that emerges from or transgresses language boundaries, switching from one language to another, has been created in this region through the ages. Poetry languages have changed throughout history but the alternating use of several languages, even within one and the same text, borrowing, translation, as well as adaptation were the main methods of the Baltic cultural field operating under the influences of different cultures. [Extract, p. 689]