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Polish literature

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Polish literature is the literary tradition of Poland. Most Polish literature has been written in the Polish language, though other languages, used in Poland over the centuries, have also contributed to Polish literary traditions, including Yiddish, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, German and Esperanto. Until the early 18th century, a major language of Polish literature was Latin, widely popular across all of Western and Central Europe at the time.[1]

Middle Ages

Almost nothing remains of Polish literature prior to the country's Christianization in 966. Poland's pagan inhabitants certainly possessed an oral literature, but Christian writers did not deem it worthy of mention and so it has perished.

It is customary to include within the Polish literary tradition, works that have dealt with Poland, even if not written by ethnic Poles. This is the case with Gallus Anonymus, the first historian to have described Poland in his work composed in sophisticated Latin and entitled Cronicae et gesta ducum sive principum Polonorum (Deeds of the Princes of the Poles). Gallus was a foreign monk who accompanied King Bolesław III Wrymouth in his return from Hungary to Poland. The important tradition of Polish historiography in the Latin language was continued by Wincenty Kadłubek, a thirteenth century Bishop of Kraków, as well as Jan Długosz, a Polish priest and secretary to Bishop Zbigniew Oleśnicki.

The first recorded sentence in the Polish language reads: "Day ut ia pobrusa, a ti poziwai" ("Let me grind, and you take a rest") — a paraphrase of the Latin "Sine, ut ego etiam molam." The work, in which this phrase appeared, reflects the culture of early Poland. The sentence was written within the Latin language chronicle Liber fundationis from between 1269 and 1273, a history of the Cistercian monastery in Henryków, Silesia. It was recorded by an abbot known simply as Piotr (Peter) referring to an event almost a hundred years earlier. The sentence was supposedly uttered by a Bohemian settler, Bogwal ("Bogwalus Boemus"), a subject of Bolesław the Tall, when he felt compassion for his wife who "very often stood grinding by the quern-stone."[1] Most notable early medieval Polish works in Latin and the Old Polish language include the oldest extant manuscripts of fine prose in the Polish language entitled the Holy Cross Sermons, as well as the earliest Polish-language Bible of Queen Zofia, and the Chronicle of Janko of Czarnków from the 14th century, not to mention the Puławy Psalter.

Most early Polish vernacular texts were influenced heavily by Latin sacred literature. These include Bogurodzica (Mother of God), a hymn in praise of the Virgin Mary, written down in the 15th century though popular at least a century earlier. Bogurodzica served as a national anthem. It was one of the first texts reproduced in Polish on a printing press; and so was the Master Polikarp's Conversation with Death (Rozmowa mistrza Polikarpa ze śmiercią).

In the early 1470s, one of the first printing houses in Poland was set up by Kasper Straube in Kraków (see Spread of the printing press). In 1475 Kasper Elyan of Glogau (Głogów) set up a printing shop in Breslau (Wrocław), Silesia. Twenty years later, the first Cyrillic printing house was founded at Kraków by Schweipolt Fiol for Eastern Orthodox Church hierarchs. The most notable texts produced in that period include Saint Florian's Breviary printed partially in Polish in the late 14th century; Statua synodalia Wratislaviensia (1475): a printed collection of Polish and Latin prayers, as well as Jan Długosz's Chronicle from the 15th century and his Catalogus archiepiscoporum Gnesnensium.

Renaissance

With the advent of the Renaissance, the Polish language was finally accepted on an equal footing with Latin. Polish culture and art flourished under Jagiellonian rule, and many foreign poets and writers settled in Poland, bringing with them new literary trends. Such writers included Kallimach (Filippo Buonaccorsi) and Conrad Celtis. Many Polish writers studied abroad, and at the Kraków Academy, which became a melting pot for new ideas and currents. In 1488 the world's first writers' club, called Sodalitas Litterarum Vistulana‎, was founded in Kraków. Notable members included Conrad Celtes, Albert Brudzewski, Filip Callimachus, and Laurentius Corvinus.

A Polish writer who used Latin as his principal vehicle of expression was Klemens Janicki (Ianicius), who became one of the most notable Latin poets of his time and was laureled by the Pope. Other writers such as Mikołaj Rej and Jan Kochanowski laid the foundations for the Polish literary language and modern Polish grammar. The first book written entirely in the Polish language appeared in this period. It was a prayer-book by Biernat of Lublin (ca. 1465 – after 1529), called Raj duszny (Hortulus Animae, Eden of the Soul), printed in Kraków in 1513 at one of Poland's first printing establishments operated by Florian Ungler originally from Bavaria. Most notable Polish writers and poets active in the 16th century include:

Baroque

The literature in the period of Polish Baroque, between 1620 and 1764, was significantly influenced by the great popularization of Jesuit high school, which offered education based on Latin classics and, a preparation for a political carrier. The classes of poetry required from students practical knowledge of writing Latin and Polish poems, which radically increased the number of poets and versifiers. But on this soil of humanistic education not only average writers grew. Piotr Kochanowski (1566–1620) gave his translation of Torquato Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered, Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski, a poet laureate, become known among European nations as Horatius christianus (Christian Horace) for his Latin writings. Jan Andrzej Morsztyn (1621–1693), an epicurean courtier and diplomat, extolled in his sophisticated poems valors of earthly delights. Wacław Potocki (1621–1696), the most productive writer of the Polish Baroque unified the typical opinions of Polish szlachta with some deeper reflections and existential experiences. Notable Polish writers and poets active in this period include:

 

Enlightenment

The period of Polish Enlightenment began in the 1730s–40s, peaked in the reign of Poland's last king, Stanisław August Poniatowski (second half of the 18th century), went into decline with the Third Partition of Poland (1795), and ended in 1822, replaced by Romanticism. One of the leading Polish Enlightenment poets was Ignacy Krasicki (1735–1801), known as "the Prince of Poets" and Poland's La Fontaine, author of the first Polish novel called The Adventures of Mr. Nicholas Wisdom (Mikołaja Doświadczyńskiego przypadki); playwright, journalist, encyclopedist and translator from French and Greek. Another prominent writer of the period was Jan Potocki (1761–1815), a Polish nobleman, Egyptologist, linguist, and adventurer whose life and exploits made him legendary in his homeland. Outside Poland he is known chiefly for his novel, The Manuscript Found in Saragossa. Notable Polish writers and poets of the Enlightenment period include:

Romanticism

Due to partitions carried out by the neighboring empires – which ended the existence of the sovereign Polish state in 1795 – Polish Romanticism, unlike Romanticism elsewhere in Europe, was largely an independence movement that expressed the ideals and way of life of the Polish people under foreign occupation. The period of Romanticism in Poland ended with the suppression of the January 1863 Uprising, marked by public executions and deportations to Siberia.[2]

The literature of Polish Romanticism falls into two distinct periods both defined by insurgencies: 1820-1832 (ending with the November Uprising of 1830), and 1832-1864 (giving birth to Positivism). In the first period, Polish Romantics were heavily influenced by other European Romantics. Their art featured emotionalism and imagination, folklore, country life, and the propagation of the ideals of independence. The most famous writers of the period were Adam Mickiewicz, Seweryn Goszczyński, Tomasz Zan and Maurycy Mochnacki. In the second period, many of the Polish Romantics worked abroad, often banished from Poland by the occupying powers. Their work became dominated by the ideals of freedom and the struggle to regain their country's lost sovereignty. Elements of mysticism became more prominent. There developed the idea of the poeta-wieszcz (nation's bard). The wieszcz functioned as spiritual leader to the suppressed people. The most notable poet so recognized in both periods was Adam Mickiewicz. Polish Romantic writers and poets include:

 

Positivism

Polish "Positivism" advocated the exercise of reason following the disastrous January Uprising against the Russian occupation. Questions addressed by the Positivist writers revolved around the so called "organic work" which included the establishment of equal rights for all members of society; the assimilation of Poland's Jewish minority; and the defense of the Polish population in the German-ruled part of Poland against Kulturkampf and their displacement. The writers were poised to educate the public about constructive patriotism which would enable Polish society to function as fully integrated social organism regardless of external circumstances.[3] The period lasted until the turn of the 20th century, and the advent of the Young Poland movement. Prominent writers and poets of Polish Positivism include:

 

Young Poland

The modernist period known as the Young Poland movement in visual arts, literature and music, came into being around 1890, and concluded with the Poland's return to independence. The period was based on two concepts. Its early stage characterized a strong aesthetic opposition to the ideas of its own predecessor promoting organic work in the face of foreign occupation. Artists following this early philosophy of Young Poland believed in decadence, symbolism, conflict between human values and civilization, and the existence of art for art's sake. Prominent authors who followed this trend included Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer, Stanisław Przybyszewski and Jan Kasprowicz. The later ideology emerged in conjunction with the socio-political upheavals across Europe such as the 1905 Revolution against Nicholas II of Russia, the Norwegian independence, the Moroccan Crisis and others. It was a continuation of romanticism, often called neo-romanticism. The artists and writers following this idea covered a large variety of topics: from the sense of personal mission of a Pole exemplified by Stefan Żeromski's prose, through condemnation of social inequality in works by Władysław Reymont and Gabriela Zapolska, to criticism of Polish society and Polish revolutionary history by Stanisław Wyspiański. In 1905 Henryk Sienkiewicz received a Nobel Prize in literature for his patriotic Trilogy inspiring a new sense of hope. Writers of this period include Wacław Berent, Jan Kasprowicz, Antoni Lange, Bolesław Leśmian, Tadeusz Miciński, Franciszek Nowicki, Władysław Orkan, Tadeusz Rittner, Wacław Sieroszewski, Leopold Staff, Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer, and Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński.[4]

Interbellum to now

See also: Socialist realism in the Polish literature

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Selected prose writers

See also: List of Polish-language authors
 

Selected poets

See also: List of Polish-language poets
 

Essayists

Nobel laureates

See also

Notes and references

  1. ^ a b Mikoś, Michael J. (1999). "MIDDLE AGES LITERARY BACKGROUND". Staropolska on-line. Retrieved 2008-09-25.
  2. ^ William Ansell Day. The Russian government in Poland : with a narrative of the Polish Insurrection of 1863 (1867) and Augustin O'Brien Petersburg and Warsaw: scenes witnessed during a residence in Poland and Russia in 1863-1864 (1864)
  3. ^ Czesław Miłosz, The History of Polish Literature, p. 284.
  4. ^ Template:Pl icon J. Maurin-Białostocka, J. Derwojed, Słownik artystów polskich i obcych w Polsce działających. Warszawska Drukarnia Naukowa PAN, Wrocław 1979, Ossolineum
  • Czesław Miłosz, The History of Polish Literature, 2nd edition, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1983, ISBN 0-520-04477-0.
  • Jan Zygmunt Jakubowski, ed., Literatura polska od średniowiecza do pozytywizmu (Polish Literature from the Middle Ages to Positivism), Warsaw, Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1979, ISBN 83-01-00201-8.
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