TheThree Bards (Polish:trzej wieszcze,IPA:[ˈtʂɛjˈvjɛʂt͡ʂɛ]) are thenational poets ofPolish Romantic literature. The term is almost exclusively used to denoteAdam Mickiewicz (1798–1855),Juliusz Słowacki (1809–1849) andZygmunt Krasiński (1812–1859). Of the three, Mickiewicz is considered the most influential and Krasiński the least.
The Three Bards were thought not only to voice Polish national sentiments but to foresee their nation's future. They lived and worked in exile following thepartitions of Poland, which had ended the existence of the independent Polish state. Theirtragicpoeticalplays andepic poetry, written in the aftermath of the1830 Uprising againstRussian rule, revolved around the Polish struggle for independence from the three occupying foreign empires.
The concept of the "Three Bards" emerged in the second half of the 19th century and remains influential among scholars of Polish literature. At the same time, it has been criticized by some as anachronistic. As Krasiński's influence waned, some have suggested replacing him in the trinity withCyprian Norwid, or adding Norwid orStanisław Wyspiański as a fourth bard.
ThePolish term "wieszcz " (IPA:[/vjɛʂt͡ʂ/]ⓘ) is often understood in the history ofPolish literature as denoting a "poet-prophet" or "soothsayer".[1][2]: 8 [3] This term, often rendered in English as "bard" (in the "bard" sense of "a poet, especially an exalted national poet"[4]), was an approximation to the ancientLatinpoeta vates ('poet-prophet') – the poet to whom the gods had granted the ability to see the future.[2]: 8 [3][5][6]
The term "Three Bards" (Polish:trzej wieszcze) is applied almost exclusively toAdam Mickiewicz (1798–1855),Juliusz Słowacki (1809–1849), andZygmunt Krasiński (1812–1859),[1][7][8][5] the most celebrated Romantic poets of Poland.[9][10] Of the three, Mickiewicz is considered the most, Krasiński the least, influential.[1][7][8][5][11]
Of the trio, Mickiewicz – the master of theepic andlyric – has been called the poet of the present; Krasiński – the prophet and seer – the poet who foretells the future; Słowacki – thedramatist – thepanegyrist of the past.[12] Another scheme portrays Mickiewicz as the "positive voice of history", Słowacki as "the voice of the 'demonic' dark side of the fate of the Polish nation", and Krasiński as "the voice ofPolish Catholicism".[1]
Imported toPoland around the 16th century along with many otherSarmatisms, the termwieszcz was initially applied to poets generically, sometimes to foreign ones likeHomer, and sometimes to native ones likeJan Kochanowski (sometimes called "thewieszcz ofCzarnolas"[13]). However, with the 19th-century advent ofRomanticism, the term began to be applied almost exclusively to the trio of Mickiewicz, Słowacki, and Krasiński.[3][8][5][6] Mickiewicz himself endorsed the use of the term, in 1842 calling himself awieszcz.[3] Though the three poets did not form a particular poetic group or movement, they all began to be seen as spiritual leaders of a nation deprived of its political freedom (Poland ceased to exist as an independent state in 1795, following thepartitions of Poland, and would not reestabilish full sovereignty until 1918).[1][3][14] They also often adverted tofolklore which linked the expressionwieszcz to folk sages, such asWernyhora, of legend and folk tale.[3][6]
The portrayal of Mickiewicz, Słowacki, and Krasiński as the three most important poets in Polish history can be traced to the 1860 expanded edition ofLesław Łukaszewicz [pl]'sRys dziejów literatury polskiej ('Outline of the History of Polish Literature'). This view was popularized in theGreat Emigration period by other works on literary history, such as those byJulian Bartoszewicz andWłodzimierz Spasowicz; and by succeeding decades of Polish textbooks, contributing to the establishment of aPolish literary canon [pl].[1][3][15]
This idea has endured, though at times criticized by scholars (particularly, in the early 20th century, byAdolf Nowaczyński [pl] andJan Nepomucen Miller [pl]) as anachronistic or otherwise incorrect. There has also been discussion concerning whether one of the Three Bards – particularly Krasiński – deserves to be one of the trio, and whether the trio should be expanded to include other poets.[3][5][6] Nonetheless, according to literary historianKazimierz Wyka, since the mid-20th century the trio of Bards – Mickiewicz, Słowacki, Krasiński – has been recognized as historical and classic, and as such, immuatable, despite periodic criticisms and challenges.[3]
The early-20th-century rediscovery of the writings ofCyprian Kamil Norwid (1821–1883) led some to call him a "fourth bard"[16][17]: 68 or to count him among the "four greated poets of Poland".[18] Unlike the writings of the Three Bards, Norwid's were not popular in his lifetime or for several decades thereafter. Consequently, according to Polish literary criticsPrzemysław Czapliński [pl], Tamara Trojanowska, and Joanna Niżyńska, his work "remained isolated [and] unnoticed", and was "overshadowed by the three earlier literary 'giants' [Mickiewicz, Słowacki, and Krasiński] long celebrated in exile and at home"; hence Norwid failed to influence or affect his contemporaries to the extent that did the Three Bards.[5][17]: 68
Some literary critics, however, have been so skeptical of the value of Krasiński's work as to consider Norwid athird rather than a fourth bard.[3][19][20]: 276 [21]
Other critics have nominatedStanisław Wyspiański (1869–1907) as fourth bard.[22][23]: 147 [24]: 184 His 1901 playThe Wedding (Wesele) is considered the last great classic of Polish drama, andRochelle Heller Stone writes that it alone "earned him the title of fourth bard".[24]: 184 [25]: 14
Literary historianJózef Ujejski [pl] namedJoseph Conrad another bard.[26] Other 19th-century writers who have been called bards includeJózef Bohdan Zaleski,Seweryn Goszczyński,Wincenty Pol, andKornel Ujejski.[5] 20th-century poets who have been called Polish bards includeWitold Gombrowicz andNobel laureateCzesław Miłosz.[27]
In the visual arts, the termwieszcz has occasionally been applied toJan Matejko andArtur Grottger as, respectively, the first and second Polish bards of painting, with eitherJózef Brandt orHenryk Siemiradzki most commonly named a third bard.[3][5]
Slowacki, Krasinski, and especially Mickiewicz, the most celebrated poets of modern romanticism in Poland
Poland's three most celebrated romantic poets
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