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POLISH LITERATURE
The Polish See also:language belongs to the western See also:branch of the See also:Slavonic See also:tongues, and exhibits the closest See also:affinities with the See also:Czech or Bohemian and Lusatian Wendish. Unlike the See also:people of other Slavonic countries, the Poles are comparatively poor in popular and legendary See also:poetry, but such compositions undoubtedly existed in See also:early times, as may be seen by the writings of their chroniclers; thus See also:Gallus translated into Latin a poem written on Boleslaus the Brave, and a few old Polish songs are included in Wojcicki's Library of See also:Ancient Writers. A See also:great See also:deal of the early literature written in See also:Poland is in Latin. The earliest specimen of the Polish language is the so-called Psalter of See also:Queen See also:Margaret, discovered in 1826 at the See also:convent of St See also:Florian. The date of the See also:manuscript appears to be the See also:middle of the 14th See also:century, and probably in its See also:present See also:form it is only a copy of a much older See also:text; there is also a See also:translation of the fiftieth See also:psalm belonging to the 13th century.' The ancient Polish hymn or See also:war See also:song, Piesn Boga Rodzica, was an address to the Virgin, sung by the Poles when about to fight. The See also:oldest manuscript of this See also:production is dated 1408, and is preserved at See also:Cracow. By a See also:legend which subsequently See also:grew up the See also:composition of it was assigned to St See also:Adalbert. See also: Five religious songs in Polish dating from the 15th century have been preserved; they are ascribed to See also:Andrew Slopuchowski, See also:prior of the monastery of the See also:Holy See also:Cross on Lysa Gbra. There is also the fragment of a hymn in praise of Wycliffe. To these fragments may be added the See also:prayer-See also:book of a certain Waclaw, a See also:sermon on See also:marriage, and some Polish glosses. These are all the existing memorials of the Polish language before the 16th century.
Perhaps a few words should be said concerning the writers in Latin. See also: He was See also:born in 1160, educated at the university of See also:Paris, and died in Poland in 1223 as a Cistercian monk. His Latin, like that of Gallus, is far from classical, but he writes with spirit and throws a See also:good deal of See also:light upon
1 The Psalter is called after Margaret, the first wife of See also: Having obtained the consent of See also:Pope See also:Urban V., he established at Cracow a studiumgenerale on the See also:model of the university of See also:Bologna. It consisted of three faculties—See also:Roman See also:law, See also:medicine and See also:philosophy. But the aristocratic youth still preferred frequenting the See also:universities of See also:Prague, See also:Padua and Paris, and accordingly the newly founded studium languished. Jadwiga, however, obtained from See also:Boniface IX. permission to create a new See also:chair, that of See also:theology; and the university of Cracow was remodelled, having been reorganized on the same basis as that of Paris. Another university was founded later at See also:Vilna by Batory, and one at Zamosc by the See also:chancellor See also:Zamoyski, There were also good See also:schools in various places, such as the Collegium Lubranskiego of Posen and the school of St Mary at Cracow. In the year 1474 a See also:press was set up in the latter See also:city, where See also:Gunther Zainer printed the first book. The first press from which books in the Polish language appeared was that of Hieronymus Wietor, a Silesian, who commenced See also:publishing in 1515. A few fragments printed in Polish had appeared before this, as the See also:Lord's Prayer in the statutes of the bishops of See also:Breslau in 1475, the See also:story of Pope U;See also:ban in Latin, See also:German and Polish in 1505, &c.; but the first See also:complete work in the Polish language appeared from the press of this printer at Cracow in 1521, under the See also:title, Speeches of the See also:Wise King See also:Solomon. The translation was executed by Jan Koszycki, as the printer informs us in the See also:preface, and the work is dedicated to See also:Anna Wojnicka, the wife of a castellan. In 1522, a Polish translation of See also:Ecclesiastes appeared from that press, and before the conclusion of that year The See also:Life of See also:Christ, with woodcuts, translated into Polish by Balthasar Opec. Many other presses were soon established. Printers of repute at Cracow, during the 16th and beginning of the 17th century, were Sybeneicher and Piotrkowczyk. Little as yet had been produced in Polish, as the chroniclers still adhered to Latin; and here mention must be made of Jan Dlugosz, who called himself See also:Longinus. He was bishop ptugesa. of See also:Lemberg, the See also:capital of See also:Galicia, and has See also:left us a very valuable See also:history which has merits of style and shows considerable See also:research. So anxious was Dlugosz to make his work as perfect as he could that he learned See also:Russian so as to be able to read the See also:Chronicle of See also:Nestor. The best See also:part of his book. is that which treats of the See also:period between 1386 and 1480. About 15oo was written an interesting little work entitled " See also:Memoirs of a Polish Janissary " (Pamietniki ianczara polaka). Although written in the Polish language, it was probably the production of a Serb, See also:Michael Constantinovich of Ostrovitza. He was taken prisoner by the See also:Turks in 1455 and served ten years among the See also:Janissaries, after which he escaped into See also:Hungary. About this time also flourished See also:Nicholas Copernicus, a native of See also:Thorn, one of the few Poles who have made themselves known beyond the limits of their country. The Poles See also:call the period between 1548 and 1606 their See also:golden See also:age. Poland was the great See also:land of eastern See also:Europe, and owing to the universal See also:toleration encouraged by the See also:government, Protestantism was widely spread. Many of the See also:chief See also:nobility were Calvinists, and the Socini came to reside in the country. All this, however, was to pass away under the great Jesuit re-See also:action. At Rakow in Poland was published the See also:catechism of the Socinian doctrines in 16o5. The See also:Jesuits made their See also:appearance in Poland in 1564, and soon succeeded in getting the schools of the country into their hands. Besides extirpating the various sects of Protestants, they also busied themselves with destroying the See also:Greek See also: Kochanowski See also:Ski. studied for some time at the university of Padua, and also resided in Paris, where he made the acquaintance of See also:Ronsard. Returning to Poland, he became in 1564 secretary to See also:Sigismund See also:Augustus. He has left The See also:Game of See also:Chess, an imitation of See also:Vida, and Proporzec albo hold pruski (The See also:Standard or See also:Investiture of See also:Prussia), where he describes the fealty done by See also:Albert of See also:Brandenburg to Sigismund Augustus. He also executed a translation of the Psalms. He wrote a play—a piece of one See also:act, with twelve scenes—The Despatch of the Greek Ambassadors. It is written in rhymeless five-See also:foot iambics, and is altogether a product of the See also:Renaissance, reminding us of some of the productions of See also:George See also:Buchanan. See also:Rhyme is employed in the choruses only. It was acted on the marriage of the chancellor Jan Zamoyski with Christine RadziwiH, in the presence of King See also:Stephen and his wife, at Ujazdowo near See also:Warsaw in 1578. The poet's most popular work, however, is his Treny or " See also:Lamentations," written on the See also:death of his daughter See also:Ursula. These beautiful elegies have been justly praised by See also:Mickiewicz; they are enough to raise Kochanowski far above the level of a merely artificial poet. Besides poems in Polish, he also wrote some in Latin. It will be observed that we get this See also:double-sided authorship in many Polish writers. They composed for an exclusive. and learned circle, certainly not for the See also:Jew, the German trader of the See also:town, or the utterly illiterate See also:peasant. It may be said with truth of Kochanowski that, although the form of his poetry is classical and imitated from classical writers, the See also:matter is Polish, and there is much national feeling in what he has left us. Mention must also be made of his epigrams, which he styled " Trifles " (Fraszki); they are full of spirit and geniality. See also:Stanislaus Grochowski (1554–1612) was a See also:priest; but his poetry is of little merit, although he was celebrated in his time as a writer of panegyrics. His See also:satire Babie K.olo (The See also:Women's Circle) gave offence on See also:account of its personalities. A great See also:partisan of the Catholics in the time of Sigismund III. was Caspar Miaskowski, whose Waleta Wloszlzonowska (Farewell to his Native Country) deserves mention. Szarzynski, who died See also:young in 1581, deserves See also:notice as having introduced the His collected works were printed in 1584; they were many times reprinted, the best edition being that of Warsaw (4 vols., '884). His life was written by Przyborowski (Posen, 1857).See also:sonnet to the Poles. This See also:species of poetry was afterward to be carried to great perfection by Mickiewicz and Gaszynski. Szymonowicz (1554–1624) was a writer of good pastorals. Although they are imitated from classical writers, he has introduced many scenes of national life, which he describes with much vigour. Among the best are szynono- " WicZ. The Lovers," " The Reapers," and " The Cake " (Kolacz). Mickiewicz is very loud in his praise, and considers him one of the best followers of See also:Theocritus. The See also:condition, however, of the Polish peasants was too miserable to admit of their being easily made subjects for bucolic poetry. There is an artificial See also:air about the idylls of Szymonowicz which makes one feel too keenly that they are productions of the Renaissance; one of their best features is the humane spirit towards the miserable peasantry which they every-where display. Another excellent writer of pastorals was Zimorowicz, a native of Lemberg, who died at the early age of twenty-five. Some of his See also:short lyrics are very elegant, and remind us of See also:Herrick and See also:Carew—e.g. that beginning " Ukochana Lancelloto! Ciebie nie proszg o zloto." Another writer of pastorals, but not of equal merit, was Jan Gawinski, a native of Cracow. Some good Latin poetry was written by Casimir Sarbiewski, better known in the See also:west of Europe as Sarbievius (d. 1640). He was considered to have approached See also:Horace more nearly than any other See also:modern poet, and a See also:gold See also:medal was given him by Pope Urban VIII. Martin Kromer (1512–1589) wrote a history of Poland in See also:thirty books, and another See also:volume, giving a description of the country and its institutions—both in Latin. The history is written in an easy style and is a work of great merit. A poet of some importance was See also:Sebastian See also:Fabian Klonowicz (1545–1602), who latinized his name into Acernus, Klon being the Polish for See also:maple, and wrote in both Latin and Polish, and through his inclination to reform See also:drew down on himself the anger of the See also:clergy. Some-times he is descriptive, as in his Polish poem entitled Flis (" The Boatman "), in which he gives a detailed account of the scenery on the See also:banks of the See also:Vistula. There is some poetry in this composition, but it alternates with very prosaic details. In another piece, Rhoxolania, in Latin, he describes the beauties of Galicia. Occasionally he is didactic, as in Worek Judaszow (The Bag of Judas) and See also:Victoria deorum, where, under the See also:allegory of the gods of See also:Olympus, he represents the struggles of parties in Poland, not without severely satirizing the nobility and ecclesiastics. A curious work called Quincunx, written by Orzechowski (1515–1566), is concerned with religious polemics. Andrew Modrzewski, a Protestant, in his work De republica emendanda (1551), recommended the See also:establishment of a national church which should be See also:independent of See also:Rome, something upon the model of the See also:Anglican. A florid Jesuitical style of See also:oratory became very popular in the time of Sigismund III., not without rhetorical See also:power, but frequently becoming See also:tawdry. The chief representa- See also:skarga. tive of this school was Piotr Skarga. (1536-1612), one of the See also:main agents in extirpating Calvinism in Poland and the Greek Church in Lithuania. Among his numerous writings may be mentioned Lives of the See also:Saints, Discourses on the Seven Sacraments, and especially his sermons preached before the See also:diet, in which he lashed the Poles for their want of patriotism and prophesied the downfall of the country. Mecherzynski, in his " History of Eloquence in Poland " (Historya wymowy w Polsce), especially praises his two funeral sermons on the See also:burial of Anna Jagiellonka, widow of Stephen Batory, and Anna of See also:Austria, first wife of Sigismund III. Besides the Latin histories of Wapowski and Gwagnin (Guagnini, of Italian origin), we have the first historical work in Polish by Martin Bielski, a Protestant, viz. Kronika polska, which was afterwards continued by his son. The author was born in 1495 on his See also:father's See also:estate, Biala, and was educated, like so many other of his illustrious contemporaries, at the university of Cracow. He lived to the age of eighty; but, however great were the merits of his Chronicle, it was long considered a suspicious book on account of the leanings of the author to Calvinism. After his death his work was continued by his son See also:Joachim (1540-1599). There is also a Chronicle by See also:Bartholomew Paprocki. In 1582 was also published the Chronicle of Stryjkowski, full of curious learning, and still of great use to the student of history. Five years later appeared the Annales Poloniae of Sarnicki. The last three works are in Latin. A few words may be said here about the spread of See also:Pro- testantism in Poland, which is so intimately mixed up with the development of the national language. The spread of doctrines of Hus had entered the country in very Protestant- ism, early times, and we find Polish recensions of Bohemian See also:hymns; even the hymn to the Virgin previously mentioned is supposed to have a Czech basis. The bishops were soon active against those who refused to conform to the doctrines of the Roman church. Thus we find that Bishop Andrew of Bnin seized five Hussite priests and caused them to be burnt in the See also:market of Posen in 1439. A See also:hundred years afterwards a certain Katharina Malcher, on account of her Utraquist opinions, was condemned by Gamrat, the bishop of Cracow, to be burnt, which See also:sentence was accordingly carried out in the ragmarket at Cracow. As early as 1530 Lutheran hymns were sung in the Polish language at Thorn. In See also:Konigsberg, John Seklucyan, a See also:personal friend of See also:Luther, published a collection of See also:Christian Songs. He was born in Great Poland, and was at first a Roman See also:Catholic priest in Posen, but afterwards embraced the Protestant faith and was invited by See also:Duke Albert as a preacher to Konigsberg, where he died in 1578. He executed the first translation of the New Testament in 155r. Four years afterwards appeared a complete Polish Bible published by Scharffenberg at Cracow. In x553 appeared at Brzesc the Protestant translation of the whole Bible made by a See also:committee of learned men and divines, and published at the expense of Nicholas RadziwiH, a very See also:rich Polish See also:magnate who had embraced the Protestant doctrines. This book is now of great rarity because his son See also:Christopher, having been induced to become a Roman Catholic by the Jesuit Skarga, caused all copies of his father's Bible which he could find to be burnt. One, however, is to be seen in the Bodleian Library, and another in the library of Christ Church at See also:Oxford. A Socinian Bible was issued by See also:Simon Budny in 1570 at Nieswiez, as he professed to find many faults in the version issued under the patronage of RadziwiH; in 1597 appeared the Roman Catholic version of the Jesuit Wujek; and in 1632 the so-called See also:Danzig Bible, which is in use among Protestants and is still the most frequently reprinted. Up to this time Polish literature, although frequently rhe- torical and too much tinctured with classical influences, had still exhibited signs of See also:genius. But now, owing to the frivolous studies introduced by the Jesuits, the so-called macaronic period supervened, which lasted from 1606 to 1764, and was a time of great degradation for the language and literature. The former was now mixed with Latin and classical expressions; much of the literature See also:con- sists of fulsome See also:panegyric, verses written on the marriages and funerals of nobles, with conceits and fantastic ideas, devoid of all See also:taste, See also:drawn from their coats of arms. The poets of this period are, as may be imagined, in most cases mere rhymesters; there are, however; a few whose names are See also:worth recapitulating, such as Waciaw See also:Potocki (c. 1622-c. 1696), now known to have been the author of the Wojna Chocimska, or " War of See also:Khotin," the same See also:campaign which afterwards formed the subject of the epic of Krasicki. At first the author was supposed to have been Andrew Lipski, but the real poet was traced by the his- torian Szajnocha. The epic, which remained in manuscript till 185o, is a genuine See also:representation of Polish life; no picture so faithful appeared till the See also:Pan Tadeusz of Mickiewicz. More- over, Potocki had the good taste to avoid the macaronic style so much in See also:vogue; his language is pure and vigorous. He does not hesitate to introduce occasionally satirical remarks on the luxury of the times, which he compares, to its disadvantage, with the simplicity of the old Polish life. There is also another poem attributed to Potocki called the New See also:Mercury. In one passage he censures King Michael for ceding See also:Podolia to the Turks. See also:Samuel Twardowski (1600-166o) was the most prolific poet of the period of the Vasas. His most important poem is Wladystaus IV., King of Poland, in which he sings in a very bombastic See also:strain the various expeditions of the Polish monarch. A See also:bitter satirist appeared in the See also:person of Christopher Opalinski (1609-1656). His works were published under the title of Juvenalis redivivus, and, although boasting but little poetical merit, give us very curious pictures of the times. Hieronymus See also:Vespasian Kohcowski (1633-1699) was a soldier-poet, who went through the See also:campaigns against the Swedes and See also:Cossacks; he has left several books of lyrics full of vivacity, a Christian epic and a Polish psalmody. Another poet was Andrew Morsztyn (born about 162o, died about the commencement of the 18th century), an astute courtier, who was See also:finance See also:minister (podskdrbi) under John Casimir, and was a devoted adherent of the See also:French party at See also:court, in consequence of which, in the reign of Sobieski, he was compelled to leave his native country and See also:settle in See also:France. His poems are elegant and See also:free from the conceits and pedantry of the earlier writers. In fact, he introduced into Poland the easy French manner of such writers as Voiture. He translated the See also:Cid of See also:Corneille, and wrote a poem on the subject of See also:Psyche, based upon the well-known Greek myth. History in the macaronic period made a backward step: it had been written in the Polish language in the golden age; it was now again to take a Latin form, as in the Chronica Gestarum in See also:Europa singularium of tlib ecclesiastic See also:Paul Piasecki (1580-1649), who is an authority for the reigns of Sigismund III. and See also:Wladislaus IV., and Rudawski, who describes events from the See also:accession of John Casimir to the See also:peace of See also:Oliva (1648-166o); and as valuable materials for history may be mentioned the five huge volumes of Andrew See also:Chrysostom Zaluski (1711), bishop of Warmia. This work is entitled Epistolae historicofamiliares. It would be impossible to recapitulate here the great quantity of material in the shape of memoirs which has come down, but mention must be made of those of John Chrysostom Pasek, a nobleman of Masovia, who has left us very graphic accounts of life and society in Poland; after a variety of adventures and many a well-fought See also:battle, he returned to the neighbourhood of Cracow, where he died between 1699 and 1701. Some of the most characteristic stories illustrating Polish history are drawn from this book. A later period, that of the miserable See also:epoch of Augustus III., is described very graphic-ally in the memoirs of Matuszewicz, first edited by Pawinski at Warsaw in 1876. See also:Relating to the same period are also the memoirs of Bartholomew Michalowski (Pamietniki Bartlomieja Michalowskiego). A curious insight into the course of education which a young Polish nobleman underwent is furnished by the instructions which See also: It was especially rich in works relating to Polish history. Konarski edited in six volumes a valuable work entitled Volumina ,legum, containing a complete collection of Polish See also:laws from the time of the See also:statute of Wislica: He did much good also in See also:founding throughout the country schools for the education of the sons of the upper classes, but as yet nothing had been done for popular education properly so-called. About the See also:close of this period we have some valuable writers on Polish history, which now began to be studied critically, such as Hartknoch in his Alt- and Neues Preussen (1684), a work in which are preserved interesting specimens of the old Prussian language, and Lengnich (1689-17?4), author of the valuable See also:Jus publicum regni Poloniae, which appeared in 1742.
We now come to the reign of the last Polish king, Stanislaus See also:Poniatowski, and the few quiet years before the final See also:division of the country, during which the French taste was all-powerful. This is the second great period of the development of Polish literature, which has known nothing of See also:medieval romanticism. The literature of the first or Renaissance period gives us some good poets, who although occasionally imitators are not without national feeling, and a goodly See also:array of chroniclers, most of whom made use of Latin. In the second or French period we get See also:verse-makers rather than poets, who long to be Frenchmen, and sigh over the barbarism of their country; but the study of history in a See also:critical spirit is beginning under the See also:influence of Naruszewicz, Albertrandi and others. In the third period, that of modern romanticism, we get true nationalism, but it is too often the literature of See also:exile and despair. Here may be mentioned, although living a little time before the reign of Stanislaus, a Polish poetess, See also: A national See also:theatre was founded at Warsaw in 1765 under the influence of the court, but it was not till long afterwards that anything really national connected with the See also:drama appeared in Poland. See also: He comes before us as a belated epicurean, whose See also:airy trifles cannot be warbled in an See also:atmosphere surcharged with tempests and See also:gunpowder. The end of the 18th century was not the period for a court poet in Poland. ' The most conspicuous poet, however, of the time was See also:Ignatius Krasicki, bishop of Warmia (1735-1801). He was the friend of See also:Frederick the Great and a prominent member of Kras/c&i. the king's See also:literary See also:club at Sans Souci. Krasicki wrote an epic on the war of Khotin—the same as had furnished the subject of the poem of Potocki, of which Krasicki in all See also:probability had never heard, and also that of the Dalmatian See also:Gundulich. Krasicki's poem is at best but a dull affair, in fact a See also:pale copy of a poor See also:original, the Henriade of See also:Voltaire. His See also:mock heroics are, to say the least, amusing, and among these may be mentioned Myszeis, where he describes how King Popiel, according to the legend, was eaten up by rats. His Monachomachia is in six cantos, and is a satire upon the monks. The bishop was also the writer of some See also:pretty good comedies. In fact most styles of composition were attempted by him—of course satires and fables among the number. He presents him-self to us much more like a transplanted French See also:abbe than a Pole. In the year 1801 he travelled to See also:Berlin, and died there after a short illness. Among his other works the bishop published in 1781-1782, in two volumes, a kind of See also:encyclopaedia of belles lettres entitled Zbior Wiadomosci. His estimates of various great poets are not very accurate. Of course he finds See also:Shakespeare a very " incorrect " author, although he is willing to allow him considerable praise for his vigour. F. Morawski (1783-1861) published some excellent Fables (1800) in the manner of Krasicki, and in 1851 an epic entitled My Grandfather's See also:Farm. See also:Adam Naruszewicz (1733-1796) was bishop and poet. The existence of so many ecclesiastical writers was a natural feature in Polish literature; they formed the only really cultured class in the community, which consisted besides of a haughty ignorant nobility living among their See also:serfs, and (at a vast distance) those serfs themselves, in a brutalized condition. Burghers there were, properly speaking, none, for most of the citizens in the large towns were foreigners governed by the Jus magdeburgicum. Naruszewicz has not the happy vivacity of Krasicki; he attempts all kinds of poetry, especially satire and See also:fable. He is at best but a mediocre poet; but he has succeeded better as a historian, and especially to be praised is his " History of the Polish Nation " (Historya narodu polskiego), which, however, he was not able to carry further than the year 1386. He also wrote an account of the Polish See also:general See also:Chodkiewicz, and translated See also:Tacitus and Horace. Interesting memoirs have been published by Kilinski, a Warsaw shoemaker, and Kosmian, See also:state referendary, who lived about this time and saw much of the War of See also:Independence and other See also:political affairs. Among the smaller poets of this period may be mentioned Karpinski (1741-1828), a writer of sentimental elegies in the style then so very much in See also:fashion, and Franciszek Dyonizy Kniainin (1750-1807), who nourished his muse on classical themes and wrote several plays. He was the court poet of Prince Adam See also:Czartoryski at Pulawy, and furnished odes in See also:commemoration of all the important events which occurred in the See also:household. He lost his See also:reason on the down-fall of Poland, and died after eleven years' See also:insanity in 1807. See also:Julian Ursin See also:Niemcewicz (1758-1841) was one of the most popular of Polish poets at the commencement of the present century (see NIEMCEWICZ). His most popular work is the " Collection of Historical Songs " (Spiewy historyczne), where he treats of the chief heroes of Polish history. Besides these he wrote one or two good plays, and a novel in letters, on the story of two Jewish lovers. John Paul Woronicz (1757-1829) born in See also:Volhynia, and at the close of his life bishop of Warsaw and See also:primate of Poland, was a very eloquent divine, and has been called the modern Skarga. A valuable worker in the See also: At a later period (in 1856) appeared the work of Helcel, Starodawne prawa polskiego pomniki (" Ancient Memorials of Polish Law "). Aloysius Felifiski (1771-1820) produced an historical tragedy, See also:Barbara Radziwill, and some good comedies were written by See also:Count
Polish See also: Mention has already been made of plays written by Rej and Kochanowski; they are mere fruits of the Renaissance, and cannot in any way be considered national. The wife of John Casimir, a French-woman, See also:Marie See also:Louise, hired a See also:troop of French actors and first familiarized the Poles with something which resembled the modern stage. The Princess Franciszka Radziwill composed plays which were acted at her private See also:residence, but they are spoken of as inartistic and long and tedious. The national theatre was really founded in the reign of Stanislaus Augustus; and good plays were produced by Bohomolec, Kaminski, Kropinski, Boguslawski, Zabiocki, and others. Perhaps, however, with the exception of the works of Fredro, the Poles have not produced anything of much merit in this See also:line. A great states-man and writer of the later days of Polish See also:nationality was Kollataj, born at See also:Sandomir in 1750. He was a man of liberal sentiments, and, had his plans been carried out, Poland might have been saved. He wished to abolish See also:serfdom and throw open state employments to all. The nobility, however, were too infatuated to be willing to adopt these wise See also:measures. Like the French aristocrats with the reforms of See also:Necker, they would not listen till ruin had overtaken them. During the last war of Poland as an independent country Kollataj betook himself to the See also:camp of See also:Kosciuszko, but when he saw that there was no longer See also:hope he went to Galicia, but was captured by the Austrians and imprisoned at See also:Olmutz till 1803. He died in 1812. An active co-operator with Kollataj was Salesius Jezierski, who founded clubs for the discussion of political questions, and Stanislaus Staszic, who did much for education and improved the condition of the university of Warsaw. The reputation of all preceding poets in Poland was now destined to be thrown into the shade by the appearance of Mickiewicz (1798-1855), the great introducer of romanticism into the country (see MICKIEWICZ). Poland, as has been said before, is not rich in national songs and legendary poetry, in which respect it cannot com- See also:pare with its See also:sister Slavonic countries Russia and See also:Servia. Collec- tions have appeared, however, by Waclaw Zaleski, who writes under the pseudonyms of Waclaw z Oleska, Wojcicki, See also:Roger, Zegota See also:Pauli, and especially Oskar See also:Kolberg. Poland and Lithuania, however, abounded with superstitions and legends which only awaited the coming poet to put them into verse. In the year 1851 Ron-maid Ziefikiewicz published Songs of the Romanticism People of See also:Pinsk, and collections have even appeared of those of the Kashoubes, a remnant of the Poles living near Danzig, Mickiewicz had had a predecessor, but of far less See also:talent, Casimir Brodzinski (1791-1835). He served under Napoleon in the Polish legion, and has left a small collection of poems, the most important being the See also:idyl Wieslaw, in which the See also:manners of the peasants of the See also:district of Cracow are faithfully portrayed. The second great poet of the romantic school who appeared in Poland after Mickiewicz was See also:Julius Slowacki (1809-1849), born at Krzemieniec. In 1831 he left his native country and See also:chose Paris as his residence, where he died. His writings are full of the See also:fire of youth, and show great beauty and elegance of expression. We can trace in them the influence of See also:Byron and See also:Victor See also:Hugo. He is justly considered one of the greatest of the modern poets of Poland. His most celebrated pieces are Hugo; Mnich (" The Monk "); Lambro, a Greek See also:corsair, quite in the style of Byron; Anheili, a very Dantesque poem expressing under the form of an allegory the sufferings of Poland; Krol See also:duck (" The Spirit King "), another mysterious and allegorical poem; Waclaw, on the same subject as the Marya of Malczewski, to be afterwards noticed; Beniowski, a long poem in ottava rima on this See also:strange adventurer, something in the style of Byron's humorous poems; Kordyan, of the same school as the English poet's See also:Manfred; Lilla Weneda, a poem dealing with the early period of Slavonic history. The life of Slowacki has been published by See also:Professor Anton Malecki in two volumes. Mickiewicz and Slowacki were both more or less mystics, but even more we may assign this characteristic to Sigismund Krasinski, who was born in 1812 at Paris, and died there in 1859. It would be impossible to analyse here his extraordinary poem Nieboska komedja (" The Undivine Comedy "), Irydion, and others. In them Poland, veiled under different allegories, is always the central figure. They are powerful poems written with great vigour of language, but enveloped in clouds of See also:mysticism. The life of Krasinski was embittered by the fact that he was the son of General Vincent Krasinski, who had become unpopular among the Poles by his adherence to the Russian government; the son wrote anonymously in consequence, and was therefore called " The Unknown Poet." Among his latest productions are his " Psalms of the Future " (Psalmy przyszlosci), which were attacked by the democratic party as a See also:defence,of aristocratic views which had already ruined Poland. His friend Slowacki answered them in some taunting verses, and this led to a See also:quarrel between the poets. One of the most striking pieces of Krasinski has the title " Resurrecturis." The sorrows of his country and his own See also:physical sufferings have communicated a See also:melancholy See also:tone to the writings of Krasinski, which read like a See also:dirge, or as if the poet stood always by an open See also:grave—and the grave is' that of Poland. He must be considered as, next to Mickiewicz, the greatest poet of the country. Other poets of the romantic school of considerable merit were Gorecki, Witwicki, Odyniec, and Gaszynski; the last-named wrote many exquisite sonnets, which ought alone to embalm his name. Witwicki (1800-1847) was son of a professor at Krzemieniec. He was a writer of See also:ballads and poems dealing with rural life, which enjoyed great popularity among his countrymen and had the good See also:fortune to be set to See also:music by See also:Chopin. The works of Lelewel have See also:separate mention (see LELEWEL); but here may be specified the labours of Narbutt, Dzieje starozytne arodu litewskiego (" Early History of the Lithuanian People "), published at Vilna in nine volumes, and the valuable Monumenta Poloniae historica, edited at Lemberg by Bielowski, of which several volumes have appeared, containing reprints of most of the early chroniclers. Bielowski died in 1876. A further development of romanticism was the so-called See also:Ukraine school of poets, such as Malczewski, Goszczynski, and Zaleski. Anton Malczewski (1793-1826) wrote Ukraine one poem, Marya, a Ukrainian See also:tale which passed School. unnoticed at the time of its publication, but after its author's death became very popular. Malczewski was one of Napoleon's See also:officers; he led a wandering life and was intimate with Byron at See also:Venice; he is said to have suggested to the latter the story of Mazeppa. Marya is a narrative in verse in the manner of Byron. It is written with much feeling and elegance, and in a most harmonious See also:metre. The chief poem is Severin Goszczynski (1803–1876) is Zamek Kaniowski (" The See also:Tower of Kaniow "). The most interesting poem of Bogdan Zaleski is his " Spirit of the See also:Steppe " (Duch od stepu). Other poets of the so-called Ukraine school, which has been so well inspired by the romantic legends of that part of Russia, are Thomas or Timko Padoura (who also wrote in the Malo-Russian, or Little-Russian, language), .Alexander Groza, and Thomas Olizarowski. For many of the original songs and legends we must turn to the work of Messrs Antonovich and Dragomanov. Bogdan Joseph Zaleski was born in 18oa in the Ukraine See also:village, Bohaterka. In 182o he was sent to the university of Warsaw, where he had Goszczynski as a See also:fellow student. Besides the longer poem previously mentioned, he is the author of many charming lyrics in the style of the Little Russian poems, such as Shevchenko has written in that language. He died at Villepreux, in France, in 1886, after more than fifty years of exile. Michael Grabowski (1805–1863) belongs also to this school by his See also:fine Melodies of the Ukraine (1828). See also:Maurice Goslawski also won fame by his Poems of a Polish Outlaw in the struggle of 183o-1831. A poet of great vigour was Stephen Garczynski (1806–1833), the friend of Mickiewicz, celebrated for his War Sonnets and his poem entitled The Deeds of Wactaw. Wincenty Poi (1807–1872) was born at See also:Lublin, and though of foreign extraction by both parents proved an ardent patriot. He wrote a fine descriptive work, Obrazy z zycia i podrozy (" Pictures of Life and Travel "), and also a poem, Piesn o ziemi naszej (" Song of our Land "). For about three years from 1849 he was professor of See also:geography in the university of Cracow. In 1855 he published Mohort, a poem relating to the times of Stanislaus Poniatowski. Lndwik Wiadyslaw Kondratowicz (who wrote chiefly under the name of Syrokomla) was born in 1823 in the government of See also:Minsk, and died on the 15th of See also:September 1862 at Vilna. His parents were poor, and he received a meagre education, but made up for it by careful self-culture. One of his most remarkable poems is his Jan Dcborog in which, like Mickiewicz, he has well described the scenery of his native Lithuania. He everywhere appears as the See also:advocate of the suffering peasants, and has consecrated to them many beautiful lyrics. In Kaczkowski the Poles found a novelist who treated many periods of their history with great success. His sympathies, however, were mostly aristocratic, though modified by the See also:desire of progress. An important writer of history is Karl Szajnocha (1818--1868), born in Galicia of Czech parents. He began his labours with The Age of Casimir the Great (1848), and Boleslaw the Brave (1849), following these with Jadwiga and Jagiello, in three volumes (1855–1856)—a work which Spasovich, in his Russian History of Slavonic Literature, compares in vigour of style and fullness of See also:colour with See also:Macaulay's History of England and See also:Thierry's See also:Norman See also:Conquest. Our author was still further to resemble the latter writer in a great misfortune; from overwork he lost his sight in 1857. Szajnocha, however, like Thierry and the See also:American See also:Prescott, did not abandon his studies. His excellent memory helped him in his affliction. In 1858 he published a work in which he traced the origin of Poland from the Varangians (Lechicki poczatek polski), thus making them identical in origin with the Russians. He began to write the history of John Sobieski, but did not live to finish it. dying in 1868, soon after completing a history of the Cossack See also:wars, Dwa See also:late dziejow naszych (" Two Years of Our History"). A writer of romances of considerable power was Joseph Korzeniowski (1797–1863), tutor in early youth to the poet Krasifiski, and afterwards director of a school at See also:Kharkov. Besides some plays now forgotten, he was author of some popular novels, such as Wedrowki oryginata (" See also:Tours of an Original "), 1848;Garbaty (" The Hunchback "), 1852, &c. But the most fertile of Polish authors was J. I. See also:Kraszewski (q.v.). His works constitute a library in themselves; they are chiefly historical and political novels, some or which treat of early times in Poland, and some of its condition under the Saxon kings. As lyrical poets may also be mentioned Jachowicz; Jaskowski, author of a fine poem, The Beginning of See also:Winter; See also:Edmund Wasilewski (1814–1846), the author of many popular songs ; and Holowinski, See also:archbishop of See also:Mogilev (1807–1855), author of religious poems. The style of poetry in vogue in the Polish parts of Europe at the present time is chiefly lyrical. Other writers deserving mention are See also:Cornelius Ujejski (1823-1897), the poet of the last revolt of 1863; See also:Theophilus Lenartowicz (born 1822), who wrote some very graceful poetry; Sigismund Milkowski (T. T. Tez, born in 182o), author of romances drawn from Polish history, for the novel of the school of Sir See also:Walter See also:Scott still flourishes vigorously among the Poles. Among the very numerous writers of romances may be mentioned See also: In 1882 the Poles lost, in the See also:prime of life, a very promising historian Szujski (born in 1835), and also Schmitt, who died in his sixty-See also:sixth year. Szujski commenced his literary career in 18J9 with poems and dramas; in 1860 appeared his first historical production, Rzut oka na Historye Polski (" A Glance at Polish History "), which attracted universal See also:attention; and in 1862 he commenced the publication in parts of his work Dzieje Polski (" The History of Poland "), the See also:printing of which ceased in 1866. The value of this book is great both on account of the research it displays and its philosophical and unprejudiced style. One of the last works of Szujski, written in German, See also:Die Polen and Ruthenen in Galizien, attracted a great deal of attention at the time of its appearance. Schmitt got mixed up with some of the political questions of the See also:day —he was a native of Galicia and therefore a subject of the See also:Austrian See also:emperor—and was sentenced to death in 1846, but the See also:penalty was commuted into imprisonment in Spielberg, whence he was re-leased by the revolution of 1848. In 1863 he took part in the Polish See also:rebellion, and was compelled to See also:fly to Paris, where he only returned in 1871. His chief works are History of the Polish People from the Earliest Times to the year 1763 (1854), History of Poland in the 18th and 1gth Centuries (1866), and History of Poland from the time of the See also:Partition (1868), which he carried down to the year 1832. In opposition to the See also:opinion of many historians, his contemporaries, that Poland See also:fell through the nobility and the diets, Schmitt held (as did Lelewel) that the country was brought to ruin by the kings, who always preferred dynastic interests to those of the country, and by the pernicious influence of the Jesuits. Adalbert Ketrzyfiski, who succeeded Bielowski in 1877 in his See also:post of director of the Ossolinski See also:Institute at Lemberg, is the author of some valuable monographs on the history of Poland. He was born in 1838. Casimir Stadnicki has treated of the period of the Jagielions; and Szaraniewicz, professor at the university of Lemberg, has written on the early history of Galicia. Thaddeus Wojciechowski has published a See also:clever work on Slavonic antiquities. See also:Xavier Liske, born in 1838, professor of universal history at Lemberg, has published many historical essays of considerable value, and separate works by him have appeared in the German, Polish, See also:Swedish, Danish and See also:Spanish See also:languages. The " See also:Sketch of the History of Poland " (Dzieje Polskie w zarysie) by Michael Bobrzyfiski, born in 1849 in Cracow (professor of Polish and German law), is a very spirited work, and has given rise to a great deal of controversy on account of the opposition of many. of its views to those of the school of Lelewel. Vincent Zakrzewski professor of history at Cracow, has written some works which have attracted considerable attention, such as On the Origin and Growth of the See also:Reformation in Poland, and After the See also:Flight of King Henry, in which he describes the condition of the country during the period between that king's departure from Poland and the See also:election of Stephen Batory. Smolka has published a history entitled Mieszko the See also:Elder and his Age. Wiadyslaw Wislocki has prepared a See also:catalogue of manuscripts in the Jagiellon library at Cracow. Dr Joseph Casimir Plebafiski, besides editing the Biblioteka warszawska, a very valuable literary See also:journal which stands at the See also:head of all works of the kind in Poland, has also written a dissertation (in Latin) on the liberum See also:veto, which puts that institution in a new light. Felix Jezierski, the previous editor of the above-mentioned journal, published in it transir.tions of parts of See also:Homer, and is also the author of an excellent version of See also:Faust. The history of Polish literature has not been neglected. We first have the early history of Felix Bentkowski (1781–1852), followed by that of Michael Wiszniewski (1794–1865), which, how-ever, only extends to the 17th century, and is at best but a See also:quarry of materials for subsequent writers, the style being very heavy. A " History of Eloquence " (Historya wymowy w Polsce) was published by Karl Mecherzyski. An elaborate history of Polish literature has been written by Anton Malecki, who is the author of the best Polish grammar (Gramatyka historyczno-porownawcza jezyka polskiego, 2 vols., Lemberg, 1879). The Polish bibliography of Karl Estreicher, director of the Jagielion library at Cracow, is a work of the highest importance. One of the most active writers on Polish philology and literature is Wladyslaw Nehring, whose numerous contributions to the Archie See also:fur slavische Philologie of Professor Jagic entitle him to the gratitude of all who have devoted themselves to Slavonic studies. \See also:Vladimir Spasowicz, a lawyer of St Petersburg, assisted Pipin in his valuable work on Slavonic literature. The lectures of Professor Cybulski (d. 1867) on Polish literature in the first See also:half of the 19th century are written with much spirit and appreciation. The larger poetical works which appear during that time are carefully analysed. In recent times many interesting See also:geological and anthropological investigations have been carried on in Poland. In 1868 Count See also:Constantine Tyszkiewicz published a valuable monograph on the Tombs of Lithuania and Western Ruthenia. And Professor Joseph +.epkowski, of Cracow, has greatly enriched the archaeological museum of his native city. In philosophy the Poles (as the Slays generally) have produced but few remarkable names. See also:Goluchowski, the See also:brothers Andrew and John Sniadecki, the latter of whom gained a reputation almost See also:European, Bronislaw Trentowski, Karol Liebelt and Joseph Kremer deserve mention. See also:August Cieszkowski has written on philosophical Vistula," or occasionally as the " territory on the Vistula." It is bounded N. by the Prussian provinces of West and See also:East Prussia, W. by those of Posen and Prussian See also:Silesia, S. by the Austrian crownland of Galicia, and E. by the Russian governments of Volhynia, Vilna, See also:Grodno, and See also:Kovno. Physical Features.—The territory consists for the most part of an undulating See also:plain, 300 to 450 ft. above the See also:sea, which connects the lowlands of Brandenburg on the west with the great plain of central Russia on the east. A low swelling separates it from the Baltic Sea; while in the See also:south it rises gradually to a See also:series and economic subjects. See also:Moritz Straszewski, professor of philosophy at the university of Cracow, has also published some remarkable works. Mention has already been made of the poetess Elizabeth Druzbacka. See also:Female writers are not very common among Slavonic nations. Perhaps the most celebrated Polish authoress was Klementina See also:Hoffmann, whose See also:maiden name was Tanska, born at Warsaw in 1798. She married Karl Boromaus Hoffmann, and accompanied her See also:husband, in 1831, to Passy near Paris, where she died in 1845. Her novels still enjoy great popularity in Poland. Of the poetesses of later times Gabriele Narzyssa Zmichowska (1825-1878), Maria Ilnicka, translator of Scott's Lord of the Isles, and Jadwiga Luszczewska may be mentioned. A poet of considerable merit is Adam Asnyk (1838-1897). In his poetry we seem to trace the steps between romanticism and the modern realistic school, such as we see in the Russian poet Nekrasov. In some of the flights of his muse he reminds us of Slowacki, in the See also:melody of his verse of Zaleski. Besides showing talent as a poet, he has also written some good plays, as " The Jew " (Zid), Cola di See also:Rienzi, and Kiejstut. Other poets worthy of mention are Zagorski, Czerwienski, and Maria Konopnicka, who has published two volumes of poems that have been very favourably noticed. Mention must also be made of Balucki (1837-1901), author of novels and comedies, and Narzymski (1839-1872), who was educated in France, but spent part of his short life in Cracow, author of some very popular tales. The four centres of Polish literature, which, in spite of the attempts which have been made to denationalize the country, is fairly active, are Cracow, Posen, Lemberg and Warsaw. A cheap sdition of the leading Polish classics, well adapted for dissemination among the people, has been published, under the title of Biblioteka Polska, at Cracow. Not only are the professors of Cracow University some of the most eminent living Poles, but it has been chosen as a See also:place of residence by many Polish literary men. The See also:academy of sciences, founded in 1872, celebrated the bicentenary of the raising of the See also:siege of See also:Vienna by Sobieski by publishing the valuable Acta Joannis III. regis Poloniae. Some good Polish works have been issued at Posen. At Lemberg, the capital of Austrian Galicia, there is an active Polish press. Here appeared the Monumenta Poloniae historica of Bielowski, previously mentioned; but Polish in this See also:province has to struggle with the Red-Russian or Ruthenian, a language or See also:dialect which for all See also:practical purposes is the same as the See also:Southern or Little Russian. At Warsaw, since the last insurrection, the university has become entirly Russianized, and its Transactions are published in Russian; but Polish works of merit still issue from the press—among others the leading Polish literary journal, Biblioteka warszawska. Perhaps the most popular modern writer in Poland is Eliza Orszeszko, of whose novels a complete " See also:Jubilee " edition has appeared. Many of her tales—as, for instance, Argonauci (" The See also:Argonauts ")—have appeared in the Tygodnik, or weekly illustrated journal of Warsaw. See also:Meir Ezofowicz has enjoyed great popularity. The See also:object of this tale is to See also:bridge over the gulf between the Jew and Christian in Poland. Adolf Dygasinski writes clever village tales of the " kail-yard " school, as it has been sometimes termed in England. Waclaw Sieroszewski has written Twelve Years in the Land of the Jakuts, a contribution to the literature of folk-See also:lore and See also:ethnology such as only a real artist could produce. Among the latest poets' we may mention Wyspianski, Kisiliewski, Reymont, Mme Zapolska; the latter is the author of some powerful realistic novels and plays, and she has been called the Polish See also:Zola. It is this kind of poetry and traces of the decadent school which we find in the later Polish poets. A pessimistic spirit is apparent, as in the writings of See also:Wenceslaus Berent. Since the death of Asnyk and Ujejski the most prominent poet is Marya Konopnicka (1846). Some good critical work has been done in the leading reviews by Swietochowski and others. Historical work has been produced by Hirschberg, Pappee, Sobieski, Czermak and others, and the histories of Polish literature by Stanislaus See also:Tarnowski and Piotr Chmielowski are of the highest value, the former dealing more with the aesthetic See also:side of literature and the latter with the historical. The Poles are busy in reviving their great past. Hence the See also:enthusiasm for historical studies, and the Biblioteka pisarzow polskich, which shows us what abundance of literature was produced in Poland in the 16th and beginning of the 17th century. In Henryk See also:Sienkiewicz (q.v.), the historical novelist, Poland has a modern writer of European reputation. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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