Poetic self-reflection in poetry presents reflections on questions related to poetic art, occurring within the poetic discourse. Poetry responds to poetological questions parallel with theoretical discourse. The concept of poetic self-reflection is synonymous with the term metapoetry and, with respect to the elements of literary communication, consists of four basic thematic fields, which experience extensions and specifications in their literary realizations. These are the poet, the work of poetry or poetic art, the reception of poetry, and the context. Poetic self-reflection has been significantly present in poems from antiquity on, and has become a particularly important element in modern 20th-century poetry. In the 20th century, theoretical discourse, the question of the author, the author’s subjectivity and autonomy have received special attention. Breakthrough considerations largely happened in relation to the Romantic concept of autonomous divinely inspired genius. Accordingly, this doctoral thesis focuses on the question of the author or poet, as one among the central thematic fields of poetic self-reflection or metapoetry.The thesis first defines the concept of poetic self-reflection. Taking into account theoretical studies carried out to date, it considers the limitations of the concept, the form, the strategy and the functions of poetic self-reflection. An overview of the formation of the concept of the author follows, with an emphasis on the formation of the Romantic notion of genius, and breakthroughs that happened to it in the 20th century. Theoretical definitions serve as the basis for the interpretative analysis of contemporary Slovenian poetry after the Second World War. Case studies are presented regarding poetic self-reflection as it was realized in the poetry of eight female and male poets: Kajetan Kovič, Dane Zajc, Tomaž Šalamun, Niko Grafenauer, Milan Jesih, Taja Kramberger, Barbara Korun, and Primož Čučnik. As the thesis seeks to show changes in the semantic-aesthetic effect of poetic self-reflection strategies, the research includes poets of different poetic generations and literary-aesthetic movements. The selection is based on their representativeness and the inclusion of poetic self-reflection in the poems. Moreover, the thesis articulately analyses these poets’ metadiscourse, which presents the comparative framework.The analysis shows that poetic self-reflection in contemporary Slovenian poetry takes place both at the level of thematization and the level of other strategies (autoreference to the poem and poetic subject, implicit strategies, etc.). Various strategies most often appear in combinations with one another. The performative ability of poetry to simultaneously perform what it puts into words appears as an essential characteristic. Through a diachronic view of case studies of the poetry of various poets it becomes evident that through poetic self-reflection in poetry, certain common thematic points are maintained (poetological metaphors). At the same time it is evident that comparable strategies of poetic self-reflection trigger different aesthetic and meaningful effects in reference to spiritual-aesthetic context. Through the poetic self-reflection in contemporary Slovenian poetry, the consolidation of aesthetic currents and a reconsideration of the attitude towards literary tradition thus takes place, together with the poet’s self-positioning in the literary context and society, a reflection on language and poetic discourse, disillusion of a poem, etc. Among the thematic areas of poetic self-reflection, the poetic self-reflection of the authorial role proves to be crucial. Allusions to the Romantic concept of the poet can be observed in all poets included in the study. Moreover, the poetry of poets who started writing poems after 1990 is notable for their autoreferential strategies, which have the effect of distancing from the conventional conceptions.This doctoral thesis brings a theoretical definition of the concept of poetic self-reflection and presents the ways in which it is realized in the poetry of contemporary Slovenian poets, as well as the effects of metapoetic consciousness as it is established. Poetic self-reflection represents an important element in modern poetic discourse, which in Slovenian contemporary poetry acquires special meaning, since poetic discourse is becoming increasingly marginalized in society. At the level of content, the analysis of poetic self-reflection contributes to theoretical considerations on poetry, at the same time indicating its specific power in wording and illustrating poetic concepts. It proves to be productive in considering the authorial role: on the one hand of the poet’s social role, on the other hand in replaying various levels of the poet in reference to the text.