Juliusz Słowacki
Polish Romantic poet and father of modern Polish drama.
Juliusz Słowacki was a Polish Romantic poet and dramatist, regarded as one of the "Three Bards" of Polish literature. He is considered the father of modern Polish drama, and his works often incorporate Slavic paganism, Polish history, mysticism, and orientalism. His most popular works include the dramas Kordian and Balladyna and the poems Beniowski, Testament mój, and Anhelli.
Quick Facts
- Born
- 4 September 1809
- Birthplace
- Kremenets, Russian Empire
- Died
- 3 April 1849
- Place of death
- Paris, France
- Education
- Vilnius Imperial University
- Occupation
- Poet, essayist
- Genre
- dramas, lyrical poems
- Movement
- Romanticism
Facts from the source article.
Life
Juliusz Słowacki came into the world on 4 September 1809 in Kremenets, a town in Volhynia that was then under Russian rule. His father, Euzebiusz, a Polish nobleman bearing the Leliwa coat of arms, taught rhetoric and poetry at the local lyceum before taking a professorship at Vilnius Imperial University. He died in 1814, leaving his son to be brought up by his mother, Salomea, who remarried in 1818 to a medical professor named August Bécu. Her literary salon exposed young Juliusz to a range of ideas, and it was there in 1822 that he met the poet Adam Mickiewicz. Słowacki attended the Krzemieniec Lyceum and a Vilnius preparatory school, then studied law at Vilnius Imperial University from 1825 to 1828. He moved to Warsaw in 1829, taking a post in the treasury commission of Congress Poland. His first published work, the poem-novel Hugo, appeared in the journal Melitele in early 1830. When the November Uprising broke out later that year, he wrote several patriotic pieces, including Hymn and Ode to Freedom, which were well received and quickly reprinted.
Work
Juliusz Słowacki left behind a massive body of work, with his complete writings filling seventeen volumes. This output includes twenty-five plays and over two hundred and fifty poems, spanning dramas, lyric poetry, literary criticism, letters, journals, memoirs, parts of two novels, a political pamphlet, and translations. His correspondence with his mother is especially prized in Polish literature. He also composed a few pieces in French, such as Le roi de Landawa and Beatrix Cenci. Many of his works only appeared after his death, often given arbitrary titles because he had never named them himself. Scholar Włodzimierz Szturc sorts his career into four phases: a pseudoclassical period tied to Voltaire, then a Christian ethical phase, followed by one shaped by Towiański’s teachings, and finally a genesic ethical stage. Other researchers propose different divisions, like classical, Swiss, Parisian, and genesis periods. Early on, Byron and Shakespeare influenced him, leading to historical or exotic settings. After the failed November Uprising, his writing grew more patriotic. In the 1840s, he crafted his own mystical philosophy, laid out in works such as Król-Duch and Genesis z Ducha.
Legacy
After his death, Słowacki acquired the reputation of a national prophet and is now considered one of the "Three Bards" of Polish literature. He was not popular among his contemporaries in Paris; although he wrote many dramas, only Mazepa was staged during his lifetime, and not in his presence. His works, dense with Slavic myths, philosophy, and symbols, were difficult to translate. His unpopularity among Polish émigrés stemmed from his unwillingness to pander to contemporary tastes and his refusal to comfort compatriots shaken by the loss of Polish statehood. His ironic and sometimes pessimistic attitude, as well as his denial of Polish uniqueness, were not appreciated. In Anhelli he painted a gloomy vision of Poland's destiny. In popular memory he was seen as a sickly man of weak character, egocentric and bitter over his rivalry with Mickiewicz, who described Słowacki's work as "a beautiful church, but without God inside."
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