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MICKIEWICZ, ADAM (1798-1855)
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See also:MICKIEWICZ, See also:ADAM (1798-1855) , See also:Polish poet, was See also:born in 1798, near Nowogrodek, in the See also:present See also:Russian See also:government of See also:Minsk, where his See also:father, who belonged to the schlachta or lesser See also:nobility, had a small See also:property. The poet was educated at the university of See also:Vilna; but, becoming involved in some See also:political troubles there, he was forced to terminate his studies abruptly, and was ordered to live for a See also:time in See also:Russia. He had already published two small volumes of See also:miscellaneous See also:poetry at Vilna, which had been favourably received by the See also:Slavonic public, and on his arrival at St See also:Petersburg he found himself admitted to the leading See also:literary circles, where he was a See also:great favourite both from his agreeable See also:manners and his extraordinary See also:talent of improvisation. In 1825 he visited the See also:Crimea, which inspired a collection of sonnets in which we may admire both the elegance of the See also:rhythm and the See also:rich See also:Oriental colouring. The most beautiful are The See also:Storm, Bakchiserai, and See also:Grave of the Countess Potocka. In 1828 appeared his Konrad Wallenrod, a narrative poem describing the battles of knights of the See also:Teutonic See also:order with the See also:heathen See also:Lithuanians. Here, under a thin See also:veil, Mickiewicz represented the sanguinary passages of arms and burning hatred which had characterized the See also:long feuds of the Russians and Poles. The See also:objects of the poem, although evident to many, escaped the Russian censors, and it was suffered to appear, although the very See also:motto, taken from See also:Machiavelli, was significant: " Dovete adunque sapere come sono duo generazioni da combattere . . . bisogna essere volpe e leone." This is a striking poem and contains two beautiful lyrics. After a five years' See also:exile in Russia the poet obtained leave to travel; he had secretly made up his mind never to return to that See also:country or See also:Poland so long as it remained under the government of the Muscovites. Wending his way to See also:Weimar, he there made the acquaintance of See also:Goethe, who received him cordially, and, pursuing his See also:journey through See also:Germany, he entered See also:Italy by the Spli.igen, visited See also:Milan, See also:Venice, and See also:Florence, and finally took up his See also:abode at See also:Rome. There he wrote the third See also:part of his poem Dziady, the subject of which is the religious See also:commemoration of their ancestors practised among Slavonic nations, and See also:Pan Tadeusz, his longest poem, by many considered his masterpiece. A graphic picture is See also:drawn of Lithuania on the See also:eve of See also:Napoleon's expedition to Russia in 1812. In this See also:village idyll, as See also:Bruckner calls it, Mickiewicz gives us a picture of the homes of the Polish magnates, with their somewhat boisterous but very genuine hospitality. We see them before us, just as the knell of their nationalism, as Bruckner says, seemed to be See also:sounding, and therefore there is something See also:melancholy and See also:dirge-like in the poem in spite of the See also:pretty love See also:story which forms the See also:main incident. Mickiewicz turned to Lithuania with the loving eyes of an exile, and gives us some of the most delightful descriptions of Lithuanian skies and Lithuanian forests. He describes the weird sounds to be heard in the primeval See also:woods in a country where the trees were sacred. The See also:cloud-pictures are equally striking. There is nothing finer in See also:Shelley or See also:Wordsworth. In 1832 Mickiewicz See also:left Rome for See also:Paris, where his See also:life was for some time spent in poverty and unhappiness. He had married a Polish See also:lady, Selina Szymanowska, who became insane. In 184o he was appointed to the newly founded See also:chair of Slavonic See also:languages and literature in the See also:College de See also:France, a See also:post which he was especially qualified to fill, as he was now the See also:chief representative of Slavonic literature, See also:Pushkin having died in 1837. He was, however, only destined to hold it for a little more than three years, his last lecture having been given on the 28th of May 1844. His mind had become more and more disordered under the See also:influence of religious See also:mysticism. He had fallen under the influence of a See also:strange fanatic named Towianski. His lectures became a medley of See also:religion and politics, and thus brought him under the censure of the Government. A selection of them has been published in four volumes. They contain some See also:good See also:sound See also:criticism, but the philological part is very defective, for Mickiewicz was no See also:scholar, and he is obviously only well acquainted with two of the literatures, viz. Polish and Russian, the latter only till the See also:year 183o. A very sad picture of his declining days is given in the See also:memoirs of Herzen. At a comparatively See also:early See also:period the unfortunate poet exhibited all the signs of premature old See also:age; poverty, despair and domestic affiiction had wrought their See also:work upon him. In 1849 he founded a See also:French newspaper, La See also:Tribune See also:des peoples, but it only existed a year. The restoration of the French See also:Empire seemed to kindle his hopes afresh; his last See also:composition is said to have been a Latin See also:ode in See also:honour of Napoleon III. On the outbreak of the See also:Crimean See also:War he was sent to See also:Constantinople to assist in raising a See also:regiment of Poles to take service against,the Russians. He died suddenly there in 1855, and his See also:body was removed to France and buried at See also:Montmorency. In 1900 his remains were disinterred and buried in the See also:cathedral of See also:Cracow, the See also:Santa Croce of Poland, where See also:rest, besides many of the See also:kings, the greatest of her worthies. Mickiewicz is held to have been the greatest Slavonic poet, with the exception of Pushkin. Unfortunately in other parts of See also:Europe he is but little known; he writes in a very difficult See also:language, and one which it is not the See also:fashion to learn. There were both pathos and See also:irony in the expression used by a Polish lady to a foreigner, " Nous avons notre Mickiewicz a nous." He is one of the best products of the so-called romantic school. The Poles had long groaned undef the yoke of the classicists, and the country was full of legends and picturesque stories which only awaited the coming poet to put them into shape. Hence the great popularity among his countrymen of his See also:ballads, each of them being connected with some See also:national tradition. Besides Konrad Wallenrod and Pan Tadeusz, See also:attention may be called to the poem Grazyna, which describes the adventures of a Lithuanian chief tainess against the Teutonic knights. It is said by Ostrowski to have inspired the brave See also:Emilia Plater, who was the heroine of the See also:rebellion of 183o, and after having fought in the ranks of the insurgents, found a grave in the forests of Lithuania. A See also:fine vigorous Oriental piece is Farys. Very good too are the odes to Youth and to the historian See also:Lelewel; the former did much to stimulate the efforts of the Poles to shake off their Russian conquerors. It is enough to say of Mickiewicz that he has obtained the proud position of the representative poet of his country; her customs, her superstitions, her See also:history, her struggles are reflected in his See also:works. It is the great See also:voice of Poland appealing to the nations iri her agon. son, Ladislas Mickiewicz, wrote See also:Vie d'Adam Mickiewicz (See also:Posen, 189o-1895, 4 vols.), also Adam Mickiewicz, sa vie et son aeuvre (Paris, 1888) See also:Translations into See also:English (1881–1885) of Konrad Wallenrod and Pan Tadeusz were made by See also:Miss Biggs. See also Euvres poetiques de Mickiewicz, trans. by Christien Ostrowski (Paris, 1845). (W. R. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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