Zygmunt Krasiński

Count Zygmunt Krasiński
________________________________________ Portrait by Ary Scheffer
Full name	Napoleon Stanisław Adam Feliks Zygmunt Krasiński
Born	(1812-02-19)19 February 1812 Paris, France
Died	23 February 1859(1859-02-23) (aged 47) Paris, France
Noble family	Krasiński
Spouse(s)	Eliza Branicka
Issue	with Eliza Branicka: Władysław Krasiński Zygmunt Jerzy Krasiński Maria Beatrix Krasińska Eliza Krasińska
Father	Wincenty Krasiński
Mother	Maria Urszula Radziwiłł
Signature

Count Zygmunt Krasiński (Polish pronunciation: [ˈzɨɡmunt kraˈɕiɲskʲi]; 19 February 1812 – 23 February 1859) was a Polish nobleman and Polish nationalist traditionally ranked with Adam Mickiewicz and Juliusz Słowacki as one of Poland's Three National Bards — the trio of great Romantic poets who influenced national consciousness during the period of Poland's political bondage. He was the most famous member of the aristocratic Krasiński family.

Early on, his main works were considered to be the poems Przedświt and the Psalms of the Future, but in time, he has been acknowledged more as the author of significant works of prose, dramas and letters. Krasiński is the author of two major dramas, The Undivine Comedy and Irydion; the former being his most famous and enduring work.

A Polish nationalist, Krasiński's work in The Undivine Comedy positing a Jewish conspiracy against Christians was the first work in a string of antisemitic literary works in Europe leading to the The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and is similar to the work by by Nazi theorist Carl Schmitt in 1938.

Biography

Youth and early studies

Napoleon Stanisław Adam Feliks Zygmunt Krasiński was born in Paris on February 19, 1812 to Count Wincenty Krasiński, a Polish aristocrat and military commander, and Countess Maria Urszula Radziwiłł. Spending his childhood in the town of Chantilly, where Napoleon Bonaparte's Guard Regiment was stationed, and the Emperor himself attended his baptism ceremony. In 1814 he returned with his parents to Warsaw, which then was part of the Duchy of Warsaw ruled by Frederick Augustus I of Saxony and was a client state of the First French Empire. Following their arrival, Krasiński's father, who was highly caring and well taught, employed many renowned tutors and teachers, including Baroness Helena de la Haye, Józef Korzeniowski and Piotr Chlebowski, to take care of Zygmunt's education.

On April 12, 1822 Krasiński's mother suddenly died due to tuberculosis and henceforth he was granted the supreme authority and control of the family besides his father, who watched carefully over his education and instilled in him the belief of chivalry and honor. Zygmunt's fascination with the personality of his father; the hopes and ambitions of free Poland, all led to excessive, burdensome and mutual idealization. After the war, the family spent most summer vacations and holidays in the privately owned estates in the region of Podolia or in Opinogóra.

In September 1826 he entered a local Warsaw Lyceum and received his high school diploma in the Autumn of 1827. Krasiński began his professional studies at the Faculty of Law and administration at the Imperial University of Warsaw. however, in an incident on March 14, 1829, Leon Łubieński accused Krasiński of lacking solidarity with other students and refraining from participating in the patriotic manifestation, and subsequently refusing to attend any of the classes during the funeral of the President of the Sejm and Senator Piotr Beliński. As a result of this incident, in late March 1829, Krasiński was expelled from the university. From late May to mid-June he took first foreign trip to Vienna, under the care of his father, who previously travelled to Austria. In October 1829 he left the country to study abroad. Through Prague, Plzen, Regensburg, Zurich and Bern, Krasiński arrived in Geneva on November 3.

Literary career

Much of his time in Geneva was divided between his social life, university lectures and learning various topics, including taking music lessons, from his tutors. Soon he mastered French, in which he became as fluent in as in his native Polish. The stay in Geneva was extremely important for shaping the personality of the young writer. Soon after his arrival to Geneva, at the beginning of November 1829, he also met Henry Reeve, the son of a doctor, who at the time was in Switzerland for philosophical and literary studies. The young Englishman, noble and extremely talented in composing excessive romantic poetry, greatly inspired young Zygmunt. They soon became close friends and often wrote letters in which they stated and extensively highlighted their love for classical and romantic literature and prose.

At the beginning of 1830, Krasiński developed romantic feelings for Henrietta Willan, the daughter of a wealthy English merchant and tradesman. This relationship, provided new experiences and inspired future works by Krasiński.

On August 11 that year he met with Adam Mickiewicz, a principal figure in Polish Romanticism and widely regarded as Poland's greatest poet. His meeting and in-depth conversation with Mickiewicz, who dazzled him to the extent of his knowledge, proved to be vital in creating and shaping Krasiński's literary techniques, From August 14 to September 1 of 1830 they travelled together to the High Alps; Krasiński described this event in his diary and highlighted the trip in a letter to his father dating from September 5, 1830. Around early November 1830 he left Geneva and traveled to Italy, visiting Milan, Florence and Rome. While in Rome he received news about the outbreak of the November Uprising in Poland; he broke off his trip and returned to Geneva; in the meantime, he was finishing a historical novel Agaj-Han, considered his most significant work of that period. On his father's advice, he did not travel to Poland to participate in the Uprising, which over time led him developed to develop a major guilt complex. In May 1832 he began to travel back to Poland, visiting Italy again (Milan, Verona, Vicenza, Padua, Venice), then Innsbruck and Vienna, and arriving in Warsaw by mid-August that year.

Having reunited with his father shortly afterwards, they traveled together to Saint Petersburg, where he received an audience with the Russian tsar. Although his father tried to arrange for him to begin a diplomacy career, he was not interested and was content with permission to travel abroad once again. In March 1833 he left Saint Petersburg and visiting Warsaw and Kraków he travelled to Italy once more, where he would stay until 19 April 1834. This time saw the creation of what is likely his most famous work, the drama Nie-Boska komedia (Un-Godly Comedy or The Undivine Comedy), written probably between summer and fall of 1834. Like many of his works, it was published anonymously, likely to protect his family from suffering repercussions in the Russian Empire as his works were often outspoken and contained thinly veiled references to current politics.

While in Rome, he fell in love with Joanna Bobrowa, though the relationship, while lasting for a few years, would not result in marriage (moreover, at that time Joanna was already married). With Joanna and her husband he took another trip to Italy in the spring of 1834. That summer he met his father in Kissingen, then traveled to Wiesbaden and Ems. Autumn saw him visit Frankfurt and Milan, and he returned to Rome by November. Spring of the following year saw him in Naples, Pompeii, Sorrento, then Florence. This period saw him finishing another major work, Irydion, which he had started earlier, around 1832 or 1833.

Departing Florence in June 1835, he met Joanna in Kissingen, then traveled with her to Ischl and Trieste, and then alone to Vienna, which he reached in January 1836. Then he went to Milan and Florence, and again Rome. In Rome, in May that year, he would meet and befriend another major Polish literary figure, Juliusz Słowacki. Summer of that year saw him return to Kissingen and visit Grafenberg, where he once more met his father. In November he turned to Vienna, where he would stay until June 1837.  Summer of that year saw him visiting Kissingen and Frankuft auf Men, then return to Vienna by September. Worsening health prevented him from resuming his travels until May 1938, when he traveled to Olomouc and Salzbrunn, then returned to Poland, visiting family estates in Opinogóra Górna in June. Shortly after, he traveled to Warsaw and then Gdańsk. September marked the end of his romance with Joanna, which his father opposed. On September 1, together with him, he again departed for Italy (Venice, Florence, Rome, and Naples); in Rome he once again met Juliusz Słowacki.

His muse for many years was Countess Delfina Potocka (likewise a friend of Frédéric Chopin), with whom he conducted a romance from 1838 to 1848. First half of 1839 saw him traveling to Sicily, meeting Potocka in Switzerland, and his father in Dresden. Much of that time he spent travelling with Potocka, and writing many poems and other works dedicated to her. In July 1840 his father presented him with plans for him to marry Countess Eliza Branicka (1820–1876), which would eventually come about on 26 July 1843 in Dresden. They would have four children: sons Władysław and Zygmunt, and daughters Maria Beatrix and Elżbieta.

As usual, much of his time was divided between various travels and writing.That year also saw the publication of Przedświt (poem) (The Dawn) poem.

1845 saw the publication of another major work of his, Psalmy przyszłości (Psalms of the Future). Tirelessly continuing his travels through Central Europe, in January 1848 while in Rome he met another Polish literary figure, struggling poet Cyprian Norwid, whom he would aid financially. He also met Mickiewicz again, and politically endorsed the faction of Prince Adam Czartoryski. He wa critical of the revolutionary Spring of Nations. 1850 saw significant worsening ofhis health, but it did not stop him from constant travelling, including to France. Through a number of letters and audiences with European figures, including Napoleon III whom he met in 1857 and 1858, he tried to get support for the Polish Question. In 1856 he took part in the funeral of Adam Mickiewicz in Paris. 24 November if 1857 saw the death of his father, which was a major blow for him. He would die shortly afterwards, in Paris, on 23 February 1859. His body, just like that of his father, was transported to Poland and buried in his family crypt in Opinogóra. Today, his former family estate is the site of the Museum of Romantism.

Works

Krasiński is best known for his philosophical Messianist ideas and tragic dramas. Other key elements found in his writings are the necessity of sacrifice and suffering for moral progress, as well providentialism. His relation with his father, who strongly influenced, if not outright controlled, many aspects of his life, is also recognized as a major influence on his works.

His early works, particular those in the form of historical novels, like his Agaj-Han which describes the story of Marina Mniszech, have been influenced by the style of Walter Scott and Lord Byron. Many of his early works praised the concept of medieval chivalry. Out of those, Agaj-Han is the most notable, and its originality has secured its place in the history of Polish prose.

His most famous work is the drama Nie-boska komedia. Already in the 19th century, Mickiewicz discussed the work in his courses at the Collège de France, calling it the "highest achievement of the Slavic theater". A century later, Polish writer and Nobel Prize in Literature laureate Czesław Miłosz called this work "truly pioneering" and "undoubtedly a masterpiece not only of Polish but also of world literature", and notes that it is uprising such an brilliant work was created by an author who was barely out of his teens. Krasiński's work effectively discussed the concept of class struggle before Karl Marx coined the term. The work is likely the result of his thoughts about the Polish November Uprising and the contemporary French July Revolution of 1830. Its themes are the topics of social revolution and the destruction of the noble class, coupled with his study of the changes wrought by the emerging capitalism to the Western Europe, as well as . It is critical both of the weak and cowardly aristocracy, whose destruction it prophesized, but also of the revolution, which he portrayed as a destructive force. The work is also tackling the topics of the identify of a poet, the nature of poetry, and myths of romantic ideals such as perfect love, fame and happiness.

In Irydion, written in prose just like the Nie-boska komedia, the theme is once again the decay of the society. Krasiński criticized the excesses of fight for freedom and revenge, arguing that they such motivations do not fit within the Christian ethic; however many contemporaries saw it as his endorsement of the militant struggle for the Polish independence, rather then his support of the concepts such as organic work, which was his intention. His later works showed his opposition to the romantic, militant adventures, and his support for the more peaceful educational organic work, more clearly; this was particularly visible in the Psals of the Future, where he openly criticized the concept of revolution. Irydion was started before the Nie-boska komedia, but published after it, and Miłosz notes that while it is a work of considerable talent, especially in its perspicacious analysis of the decadence of Rome", it is inferior to the Komedia.

His more mature work is a body of poetry, also his lyrical works are not considered to be particularly significant; in fact Krasiński himself commented that he is not a very gifted poet. More memorable have been hs de facto "treatises on the philosophy of history" (most notably, The Dawn and Psalms of the Future), visibly influenced by thought of philosophers like Hegel, Schelling, Cieszkowski or Trentowski. His rejection of the romantic ideals and democratic slogans that in his view led to the unnecessary, bloody rebellions led to the polemic reply from Słowacki, in the form of the poem Odpowiedź na Psalmy przyszłości (A reply to the Psalms of the Future).

Krasiński was also a prolific writer of letters, some of which have survived and have been published after his death.

Polish literary scholar Zbigniew Sudolski in his biography of Krasiński in the Polish Biographical Dictionary, noted that he has been traditionally ranked with Adam Mickiewicz and Juliusz Słowacki as one of Poland's Three National Bards. Out of the tree, he is considered, however, to be the least influential. Miłosz concluded that Krasiński, undeniably a popular poet in the mid-19th century, is an important person in the history of Polish literature, but should not be ranked equally with Słowacki or Mickiewicz.

Gallery

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  Count Krasiński's family coat-of-arms
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  Krasiński, aged 7, by Louis-René Letronne, 1819
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  Krasiński's muse, Delfina Potocka, by Moritz Michael Daffinger, 1839
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  Portrait of Krasiński, by Ary Scheffer, 1850
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  Krasiński's wife Eliza, née Branicka, and children, by Franz Xaver Winterhalter, 1853
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  Posthumous photograph of Zygmunt Krasiński by Nadar
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  Church crypt in Opinogóra Górna, Poland: graves of Krasiński's family and parents

External links

• Media related to Zygmunt Krasiński at Wikimedia Commons
• Quotations related to Zygmunt Krasiński at Wikiquote
• (in Polish) Biography at poezja.org
• "Krasinski, Sigismund" . Collier's New Encyclopedia. 1921.
• Works by Zygmunt Krasiński at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Zygmunt Krasiński at Internet Archive