Konrad Wallenrod is an 1828narrative poem, inPolish, byAdam Mickiewicz, set in the 14th-centuryGrand Duchy of Lithuania.
Mickiewicz wrote it, while living inSt. Petersburg,Russia, in protest against the late-18th-centurypartitions of thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by theRussian Empire, theKingdom of Prussia, and theHabsburg monarchy.
Mickiewicz had been exiled to St. Petersburg for his participation in thePhilomaths organization atVilnius University.[1]
The poem helped inspire the PolishNovember 1830 Uprising against Russian rule.[2] Though its subversive theme was apparent to most readers, the poem escaped censorship due to conflicts among thecensors and, in the second edition, a prefatory homage toTsar Nicholas I.[3]
In a preface, Mickiewicz briefly outlines the history of the region, describing the interactions among the Lithuanians, Prussians, Poles, and Russians.[1] The following sixcantos tell the story of Wallenrod, a fictionalLithuanian pagan captured and reared as a Christian by his people's long-standing enemies, the Order ofTeutonic Knights. He rises to the position ofGrand Master, but is awakened to his heritage by a mysterious minstrel singing at an entertainment event.[3] He then seeks vengeance by deliberately leading the Knights into a major military defeat.[3] It transpires that Wallenrod has a wife, Aldona, who has been living in seclusion. Konrad secretly meets her.[4] The Knights discover his treason and sentence him to death; Aldona refuses to flee with him, because she had previously sworn allegiance to God.[5] Konrad Wallenrod commits suicide by drinking poison.[6]
The concept of "Wallenrodism [pl]" (Polish:Wallenrodyzm)—the striking of a treacherous, possibly suicidal, blow against an enemy—and certain powerful fragments of the poem have become an enduring part of the Polish and Lithuanian psyche and found resonance in the independence struggles of the two nations in the 19th (1831, 1863) and 20th centuries. The poem included a reference toMachiavelli's dictum that a leader must be both a lion and a fox.[2][3] Its encouragement of what would later be called "patriotic treason" created controversy, since its elements of deception and conspiracy were thought incompatible with Christian andchivalric values.[7] Mickiewicz was taken aback by the strength of the public response to his poem and regretted its publication; before his death, he expressed frustration at his financial inability to buy back and burn every copy of what he described as a mere "political pamphlet."[2][7]
Konrad Wallenrod has twice been turned into an opera: asI Lituani (The Lithuanians), by Italian composerAmilcare Ponchielli (1874); and asKonrad Wallenrod, by Polish composerWładysław Żeleński (1885). The Polish composerFrédéric Chopin may have based hisBallade No.1 in G minor on this poem.[1]
The Polish authorJoseph Conrad, born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, may have selected the second part of hispen name as anhommage to the poem's protagonist.[8] Mickiewicz's poem influenced Conrad's frequent explorations of the conflict between publicly attested loyalty and a hidden affiliation with a national cause.[9]
wallenrod joseph conrad.
