Cyprian Norwid

Lore & Background

Cyprian Norwid was born on 24 September 1821 into a family of Polish–Lithuanian minor nobility in the Masovian village of Laskowo-Głuchy near Warsaw. He and his brother were orphaned early; his mother died when he was four, and his father died when he was fourteen. He studied painting under Aleksander Kokular and Jan Klemens Minasowicz, and his incomplete formal education forced him to become an autodidact, eventually learning a dozen languages. His first poem, Mój ostatni sonet, was published in 1840, and he became a welcome guest at literary salons, described as a 'dandy' and a 'rising star'.

Reader's Guide

Norwid led a tragic, often poverty-stricken life, experiencing mounting health problems, unrequited love, harsh critical reviews, and increasing social isolation. He left Polish lands in his twenties and lived chiefly in Paris, with brief travels across Western Europe and a short stay in the United States, where he worked as an illustrator. His original, nonconformist style was not appreciated in his lifetime, and he was excluded from high society. His most influential work, Vade-mecum, a vast anthology of verse finished in 1866, remained unpublished during his lifetime. His work was rediscovered by the Young Poland movement of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, securing his place among the four most important Polish Romantic poets, though scholars still debate whether he is more aptly described as a late romantic or an early modernist.

Did You Know?

• He lost his Russian passport and was arrested for trying to cross back to Russia without it, resulting in partial deafness.
• He worked as a simple manual laborer and suffered from progressive blindness and deafness.
• His work Vade-mecum could not be published until decades after he finished it in 1866.