Zygmunt Krasiński | |
|---|---|
 Photograph by Karol Beyer | |
| Born | Napoleon Stanisław Adam Feliks Zygmunt Krasiński (1812-02-19)19 February 1812 |
| Died | 23 February 1859(1859-02-23) (aged 47) Paris,French Empire |
| Resting place | Opinogóra Górna |
| Occupation | Poet, writer |
| Language | Polish |
| Nationality | Polish |
| Citizenship | Polish |
| Period | 1820s – 1859 |
| Genre | dramas,lyrical poems, letters |
| Literary movement | Romanticism |
| Notable works |
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| Spouse | |
| Children | 4; includingWładysław andMaria Beatrix |
| Parents | Wincenty Krasiński Maria Urszula Radziwiłł |
| Relatives | Krasiński family Radziwiłł family |
| Signature | |
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CountNapoleon Stanisław Adam Feliks Zygmunt Krasiński (Polish:[ˈzɨɡmuntkraˈɕij̃skʲi]; 19 February 1812 – 23 February 1859) was aPolish poet traditionally ranked afterAdam Mickiewicz andJuliusz Słowacki as one ofPoland'sThree Bards – the Romantic poets who influenced national consciousness in theperiod of Partitions of Poland.
Krasiński was the most famous member of thenobleKrasiński family. He was born in Paris to CountWincenty Krasiński and Princess Maria Urszula Radziwiłł, a member of the aristocraticRadziwiłł family, and became the close companion of his father after his mother's early death fromtuberculosis. He was educated by tutors prior to attending theWarsaw Lyceum, where he graduated in 1827. He then started to studylaw andadministration at theRoyal University of Warsaw, but was expelled from the university in 1829.
In 1829 Krasiński left Poland to study inGeneva. He met Mickiewicz, who dazzled the young writer and played an important part in shaping his literary techniques. In Rome, Krasiński received news about theNovember Uprising and broke off his trip with the intention of returning to Poland to fight, but in the end, did not participate. In 1833 he travelled from Saint Petersburg to Italy, where he would stay until April 1834. This period saw the creation of probably his most famous work, the tragic dramaNie-Boska komedia (The Undivine Comedy). By 1850 his health had worsened, but that did not stop his constant travels around Europe. Through letters and audiences with European figures, includingNapoleon III of France, he sought to gain support for thePolish cause. To avoid political repercussions, he published his works anonymously, which led to him being known as the Anonymous Poet of Poland.
Krasiński's early works were influenced byWalter Scott andLord Byron and extolledmedieval chivalry. In 1845 he publishedPsalmy przyszłości [pl] (Psalms of the Future). He is best known forThe Undivine Comedy as well as for the large body of well-received letters. His writings exploreconservatism, Christianity, the necessity of sacrifice and suffering to moral progress, andprovidentialism.The Undivine Comedy and another major work,Irydion (1834), explore the concept ofclass struggle, contemplatingsocial revolution, and predicting the destruction of thenobility. His later writings showed his opposition to romantic militant ventures. He wrote letters, poetry, and "treatises in the philosophy of history", such asPsalms of the Future andPrzedświt [pl] (Predawn).The Undivine Comedy is perhaps the most important Polish drama of theRomantic period.
Napoleon Stanisław Adam Feliks Zygmunt Krasiński was born in Paris on 19 February 1812 to CountWincenty Krasiński, a Polish aristocrat and military commander, and CountessMaria Urszula Radziwiłł, a member of theHouse of Radziwill, a Polish-Lithuanian noble family.[1] He spent his first years inChantilly, whereNapoleon Bonaparte'sImperial Guard Regiment was stationed, and theEmperor attended hisbaptism.[1] In 1814 his parents moved toWarsaw, then part of theDuchy of Warsaw, ruled byFrederick Augustus I of Saxony, as a client state of theFirst French Empire.[1] Krasiński's cultivated and doting father employed prominent tutors, including BaronessHelena de la Haye,Józef Korzeniowski [pl], andPiotr Chlebowski [pl], to educate Zygmunt.[1]
Following the stabilization brought by the end of theNapoleonic Wars, which saw the end of the Duchy of Warsaw and the creation ofCongress Poland, the Krasiński family spent most summer holidays on their estates inPodole andOpinogóra. On 12 April 1822 Zygmunt's mother died oftuberculosis, and the 10-year-old boy became a precocious close companion to the family head, who instilled in Zygmunt a reverence forchivalry and honor.[1] Zygmunt's fascination with his father's personality, and their mutual hopes for a free Poland, led to an excessive, onerous mutual idealization.[1] Over the years, their "intimate and difficult" relationship would be very influential on Zygmunt, whom Victor Erlich described as "weak and hypersensitive", compared to his "affectionate but domineering" father.[2]
In September 1826 Zygmunt entered theWarsaw Lyceum (a secondary school whichChopin had attended in 1823–1826), graduating in autumn 1827.[1] He began studies inlaw andadministration at theImperial University of Warsaw. On 9 March 1829 an incident occurred, stemming from Krasiński's attendance at classes instead of at a patriotic demonstration during the funeral of MarshalPiotr Bieliński [pl]. Krasiński had boycotted the funeral at the urging of his father, who the previous year had clashed politically with Bieliński, who was widely seen as a national hero. Krasiński was one of only two students to remain in class. On 14 March 1829 he was publicly criticized by a fellow student,Leon Łubieński [pl]; this led to an altercation serious enough to involve the university administration and to eventuate in Krasiński's expulsion.[1][3][4]
From late May to mid-June 1829 Krasiński, accompanying his father, took his first journey abroad, visiting Vienna, capital of theAustrian Empire.[1] In October 1829 he left Poland again, this time to study abroad.[1] Travelling throughPrague,Plzeň,Regensburg,Zürich, andBern, 17-year-old Krasiński arrived on 3 November 1829 inGeneva.[1]
Much of Krasiński's time in Geneva was divided between attendance at university lectures, being tutored, and his social life.[1] He soon became fluent in French.[5]His Geneva stay helped shape his personality.[1] Soon after arrival in Geneva, at the beginning of November 1829, Krasiński metHenry Reeve, a physician's son who was in Switzerland to study philosophy and literature. The talented young Englishman, who composed overwroughtromantic poetry, greatly inspired young Krasiński. They became fast friends and exchanged letters discussing their love of classical and romantic literature.[1]
At the beginning of 1830, Krasiński developed romantic feelings for Henrietta Willan, the daughter of a wealthy English merchant and tradesman. This relationship inspired future works by Krasiński.[1] On 11 August 1830 Krasiński metAdam Mickiewicz, a principal figure inPolish Romanticism, and Poland's greatest poet.[1] Krasiński's wide-ranging conversations with Mickiewicz, who dazzled Krasiński with the breadth of his knowledge, were vital in inspiring Krasiński's to improve his literary techniques.[1] From 14 August to 1 September 1830 they traveled together to theHigh Alps; Krasiński described this in his diary; being a prolific writer of letters, he wrote about this trip as well in a letter to his father, which was dated 5 September 1830.[1]
Around early November 1830 Krasiński left Geneva and traveled to Italy, visitingMilan,Florence, andRome.[1] In Rome, receiving news about the outbreak of theNovember Uprising in Poland, he broke off his trip and returned to Geneva. He had been finishing ahistorical novel,Agaj-Han [pl], recounting the story of Tsaritsa and warlordMarina Mniszech, considered his most significant work of that period.[1] On the advice of his father, who opposed rebellion against the Russian Empire (he had become a Russian general), he did not go to Poland to participate in the Uprising – to his later everlasting regret. In May 1832 he set out for Poland, on the way again visiting Italy (Milan,Verona,Vicenza,Padua,Venice), thenInnsbruck and Vienna, finally by mid-August 1832 arriving in Warsaw. During that trip, in Venice, he consulted withophthalmologistFriedrich Jäger regarding his surfacing eye disease, which would continue over the years to come, becoming one of the reasons for his growing introspection.[1]
Having reunited with his father shortly afterward, they traveled together to Saint Petersburg, where in October he received an audience with the RussianTsarNicholas I. The elder Krasiński tried to arrange a diplomatic career for his son with the Russian Empire, but Zygmunt was not interested and was content to travel abroad again. In March 1833 he left Saint Petersburg and, visiting Warsaw and Kraków, traveled once more to Italy, where he would stay until 19 April 1834.[1] This period saw the creation of what is likely his most famous work, the dramaThe Undivine Comedy (Nie-Boska komedia), written probably between summer and fall 1834.[1]
In Rome, Krasiński fell in love withJoanna Bobrowa [pl]. Though the relationship lasted for a few years, it did not result in marriage (in any case, Bobrowa was already married).[1] With her and her husband Teodor, in the spring of 1834, Krasiński took another trip to Italy. That summer he met his father inKissingen, then traveled toWiesbaden andEms. Autumn saw him visitFrankfurt and Milan, and by November he returned to Rome. In spring the following year he visitedNaples,Pompeii,Sorrento, then Florence. In this period he finished another major work, the dramaIrydion, which he had begun earlier, around 1832 or 1833.[1]Departing Florence in June 1835, he met Bobrowa in Kissingen, then traveled with her to Ischl and Trieste, and then on alone to Vienna, which he reached in January 1836. Then he went to Milan and Florence, and again to Rome. In Rome, in May that year, he would meet and befriend another major Polish literary figure,Juliusz Słowacki. In summer 1836 he returned to Kissingen and visitedGräfenberg, where he once more met his father. In November he returned to Vienna, where he stayed until June 1837. That summer he visited Kissingen andFrankfurt am Main, then returned by September to Vienna.[1]
Worsening health prevented him from resuming his travels until May 1838, when he traveled toOlomouc andSalzbrunn, then returned to Poland, in June visiting family estates in Opinogóra Górna. Shortly after, he traveled to Warsaw and thenGdańsk. September marked the end of his romance (which his father had opposed) with Joanna Bobrowa.[1] On 1 September 1838, together with his father, he again departed for Italy (Venice, Florence, Rome, and Naples). In Rome he once again met Juliusz Słowacki.[1]
For over a decade, Krasiński'smuse was CountessDelfina Potocka (likewise a friend of composerFrédéric Chopin), with whom he conducted a romance from 1838 to 1848.[1][5] In the first half of 1839 he traveled toSicily, meeting Potocka in Switzerland, and his father inDresden. He spent much of that time traveling with Potocka and writing poems and other works dedicated to her.[1] In July 1840 his father informed the 28-year-old of plans that he had made for Zygmunt to marry CountessEliza Branicka (1820–1876). The marriage eventuated on 26 July 1843 in Dresden.[1] The couple would have four children: sonsWładysław and Zygmunt, and daughtersMaria Beatrix and Elżbieta.[1]
As usual, much of Krasiński's time was divided between traveling and writing.[1] The year 1843 also saw the publication of his poemPrzedświt [pl] (Predawn).[1] In 1845 he published another major work,Psalmy przyszłości [pl] (Psalms of the Future).[1] Tirelessly continuing his travels through Central Europe, in January 1848, in Rome, he met another Polish literary figure, the struggling poetCyprian Norwid (sometimes considered a fourth Polish bard), whom he would aid financially. He also met Mickiewicz again and endorsed PrinceAdam Jerzy Czartoryski's political faction. A conservative, Krasiński was critical of the revolutionary upheavals known as theSpring of Nations.[1]
In 1850 his health worsened, but that did not stop his constant travels, including to France. Through letters and audiences with European figures, includingNapoleon III, whom he met in 1857 and 1858, he sought to gain support for thePolish cause. In 1856, in Paris, he took part in the funeral of Adam Mickiewicz. On 24 November 1857, in a major blow to Krasiński, his father died.[1]
Krasiński died in Paris on 23 February 1859.[1] His body, like his father's, was transported to Poland and laid to rest in the family crypt at Opinogóra.[1] Today the former family estate of the Krasiński family is the home of aMuseum of Romantism [pl].[6]
Key themes in his writings includeconservatism,MessianistChristianity, the necessity of sacrifice and suffering to moral progress, andprovidentialism.[1][7] His relation to his father, who strongly influenced – indeed, controlled – many aspects of his life, is also seen as a major influence in his writings.[3][8]
Some of Krasiński's work containsantisemitic motifs. Political scientistStephen Bronner argues that theComedy is probably "the first work in which a Jewish conspiracy against a Christian society figured as the prominent theme".[9] According to theatre criticAgata Adamiecka-Sitek, this aspect of the piece is still a sensitive topic in Poland, as the piece is "both canonical and profoundly embarrassing for Polish culture, on par perhaps withThe Merchant of Venice in thewestern theatre canon".[10]
He differed from his major peers, Mickiewicz and Słowacki, in his vision of the future. Accepting the likelihood ofdemocratic social revolution, he was much less sanguine about it than they; and so were his works, when they touched on the future. All Three Bards agreed the future would see major, likely violent changes. For Krasiński, the future held little hope for a better, new world, though his later works suggested the possibility of salvation – and ofrestoration of Polish independence – through a return to conservativeChristian values.[7]
Krasiński's early works, particularly his historical novels, such asAgaj-Han, were influenced byWalter Scott andLord Byron[8] and extolled medieval chivalry.[5] They are also deeply pessimistic.[11] This gloomy atmosphere is visible in Krasiński's best-known work, the dramaNie-boska komedia (The Undivine Comedy), which he wrote around 1835, when he was in his early twenties.[1][5][7][11][12]In the 19th century, a greaterPolish Romantic poet, Adam Mickiewicz, discussedThe Undivine Comedy in hisCollège de France lectures, calling it "the highest achievement of the Slavic theater".[13] A century later, another Polish poet and lecturer on the history of Polish literature,Nobel laureateCzesław Miłosz, calledThe Undivine Comedy "truly pioneering" and "undoubtedly a masterpiece not only of Polish but... of world literature",[5] and remarked how surprising it was that such a brilliant drama could have been created by an author barely out of his teens.[14] The American academicHarold B. Segel noted that the play "has steadily gained prestige in the twentieth century and is widely regarded in Poland as one of the greatest dramatic works to emerge from the Romantic period", and that it had been staged outside Poland and was likely the most internationally known Polish romantic drama.[7]
TheUndivine Comedy discussed the concept ofclass struggle beforeKarl Marx had coined the phrase.[5][14]The Undivine Comedy appears to have been inspired by the author's reflections on the Polish November 1830 Uprising and on the FrenchJuly 1830 Revolution.[1][5] It contemplatedsocial revolution, predicted the destruction of thenobility, and commented on societal changes wrought by western Europe's burgeoningcapitalism. The play was critical both of the aristocracy and of the revolutionaries, the former depicted as cowardly, and the latter, as destructive; neither morally superior. Also addressed were such themes as the poet's identity, the nature ofpoetry, and Romantic myths of perfect love, fame, and happiness.[1]
In another prose drama,Irydion, Krasiński again took up the theme of societal decay.[8][14] He condemned the excesses of revolutionary movements, arguing that motives such asretribution had no place in theChristian ethic; many contemporaries, however, saw the play as an endorsement of militant struggle for Poland's independence, while Krasiński's intent was to advocate fororganic work as a means to society's advancement.[1] His later writings more clearly showed his opposition to romantic militant ventures and his advocacy of peaceful, organic educational work; this was particularly so in hisPsalms of the Future, which expressly criticized the concept of revolution.[1] Krasiński began writingIrydion beforeThe Undivine Comedy, but published it after the latter. Miłosz commented that, whileIrydion is a work of considerable talent, especially in its insightful analysis of thedecadence ofRoman Empire, it is not on a par withThe Undivine Comedy;[15] and Segel wrote thatIrydion "attracts no great attention today".[7]
Krasiński's later work includes a body of poetry, but hislyrical poetry is not particularly notable; indeed, he himself remarked that he was not a particularly gifted poet.[6][15] More memorable are his "treatises in thephilosophy of history", especiallyPredawn andPsalms of the Future, influenced by philosophers includingGeorg Hegel,Friedrich Schelling,August Cieszkowski, andBronisław Trentowski.[15] Krasiński's rejection of Romantic ideals and democratic slogans which he felt inspired futile bloody rebellions, brought apolemical reply from fellow poet Juliusz Słowacki in the form of the poem,Odpowiedź na Psalmy przyszłości [pl] (A reply to "Psalms of the Future").[1][6][15]
Lastly, he was a prolific writer of well-received letters, some of which survived and were published posthumously.[1][5][7][8][16] Polish literature scholarsMaria Janion andKazimierz Wyka wrote that the body of his letters is, next to his dramas, his other major literary achievement;[17][18] similar praise was offered by literature criticJan Zbigniew Słojewski [pl] who argued that those letters are one of the crowning achievements of Polish Romanticism.[18] Theater criticJan Kott referred to the series of letters written by Krasiński to Potocka as "the greatest (yet unwritten) novel of the Polish Romantic period".[19]
Most, if not all, of his works, were published anonymously or under pseudonyms, to protect his family – particularly his father, a politician and administrator inRussian-controlled Congress Poland – from retribution by theRussian Empire, as his works were often outspoken and contained thinly veiled references to the political situation of contemporary Europe (in particular, of thepartitions of Poland).[1][5][20][21][22] Due to his decision to publish anonymously, to the end of his life he was able to travel freely between his family manor in Russian-controlled lands and centers of Polish emigré life in Western Europe (theGreat Emigration), while others, including Mickiewicz and Słowacki, were forced to remain in exile in the West, banned from returning to Polish lands by the occupying powers.[23] This led to his being known as the Anonymous Poet of Poland (the title of English writerMonica Mary Gardner's 1919 monograph,The Anonymous Poet of Poland: Zygmunt Krasinski).[21]
Polish literary scholarZbigniew Sudolski [pl] writes, in thePolish Biographical Dictionary, that Krasiński has traditionally been ranked with Mickiewicz and Słowacki as one of Poland'sThree National Bards.[1] Of the three, however, Krasiński is considered the least influential.[24] Miłosz wrote that Krasiński, popular in the mid-19th century, remains an important figure in the history of Polish literature but is not on a par with Mickiewicz and Słowacki.[15]
Modern scholars generally agree that while Krasiński was in his time admired for his poetry, it did not age well.[7][25] Polish historian of literature,Mieczysław Giergielewicz [pl], observes the contradiction regarding Krasiński's dramas and poems, the former which gained popularity with the critics, but not the public, while for the later, a reverse was true. He subsequently notes that over time, assessment of his dramas (and letters) overshadowed that of his poetry, which proved to be much less enduring.[25] Segel likewise agreed that both Krasiński's poetry, as early as during the turn-of-the-centuryYoung Poland period, came to be criticized as "vehicles for [an] embarrassing messianism" and as "amateur and shallow Romantic philosophizing". Krasiński's popularity further waned under thePeople's Republic of Poland, when his conservative religious themes met with disapproval by thecommunist authorities; new editions of his works were not published in the 1940s and 1950s.[7]
Today most of Krasiński's Romantic tales and poetry are still considered relatively weak. On the other hand, he has come to be recognized as "a superb prose stylist and easily the outstandingepistolary artist of Polish romanticism", and hisUndivine Comedy remains one of the most important dramas, if notthe most important Polish drama, of the Romantic period.[7]
Out of respect for the position of his father, a deserter from the national cause, Krasiński published all his works anonymously, most of them without even a pseudonym: during his lifetime he was the Anonymous Poet of Poland
Krasiński wrote most of his poetry anonymously
Krasiński traveled freely between the centers of European and Polish emigre cultural life and his family manor in the Russian part of Poland. Still he was part of Polish emigre culture and published his works anonymously in order to avoid provoking the Russian authorities.
Media related toZygmunt Krasiński at Wikimedia Commons
Quotations related toZygmunt Krasiński at Wikiquote
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