Cyprian Norwid

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Cyprian Norwid
Laskowo-Głuchy, Congress Poland
Died23 May 1883(1883-05-23) (aged 61)
Paris, French Third Republic
Occupation
  • Poet
  • essayist
LanguagePolish
Period1840–1883
Genre
Notable works
RelativesLudwik Norwid [pl]
Signature

Cyprian Kamil Norwid

modernist
.

Norwid led a tragic, often poverty-stricken life. He experienced mounting health problems, unrequited love, harsh critical reviews, and increasing social isolation. For most of his life he lived abroad, having left Polish lands in his twenties. Having briefly travelled across Western Europe in his youth, and briefly travelling to United States, where he worked as an illustrator, he lived chiefly in Paris, where he eventually died.

Considered a "rising star" in his youth, Norwid's original, nonconformist style was not appreciated in his lifetime. Partly due to this, he was excluded from high society. His work was rediscovered and appreciated only after his death by the Young Poland movement of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. Today his most influential work is considered to be Vade-mecum  [pl], a vast anthology of verse he finished in 1866. Much of his work, including Vade-mecum, remained unpublished during his lifetime.

Life

Chopin
lived to 1830. In 1837–39 Norwid studied painting here.

Youth

Cyprian Norwid was born on 24 September 1821 into a family of

Masovian village of Laskowo-Głuchy near Warsaw,[5]: 3  His father was a minor government official.[4]: v  One of his maternal ancestors was the Polish King John III Sobieski.[4]: v [6]
: 160 

Cyprian Norwid and his brother

autodidact, and eventually he learned a dozen languages.[4]: viii [8]: 28 [9]
: 268 

Norwid's first foray into the literary sphere occurred in the periodical Piśmiennictwo Krajowe, which published his first poem, Mój ostatni sonet (My Last Sonnet), in 1840s issue 8.[3]: 11 [10]: 34  That year he published ten poems and one short story.[4]: vi  His early poems were well received by critics and he became a welcome guest at the literary salons of Warsaw; his personality of that time is described as that of a "dandy" and a "rising star" of the young generation of Polish poets.[9]: 268–269 [4]: vii–viii  In 1841-1842 he travelled through the Congress Poland with Władysław Wężyk [pl].[7][4]: ix 

Europe

Manuscript of "Chopin's Piano"

In 1842 Norwid received inheritance funds as well as a private scholarship to study sculpture and left Poland, never to return.[4]: ix [7][9]: 269  First he went to Dresden in Germany. He later also visited Venice and Florence in Italy; in Florence he signed up for a course in sculpture at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze.[7] His visit to Verona resulted in a well-received poem W Weronie [pl] (In Verona) published several years later.[4]: x  After he settled in Rome in 1844, where for several years he became a regular at Caffè Greco,[9]: 269  his fiancée Kamila broke off their engagement.[11] Later he met Maria Kalergis, née Nesselrode; they became acquaintances, but his courtship of her, and later, of her lady-in-waiting, Maria Trebicka, ended in failure.[7] The poet then travelled to Berlin, where he participated in university lectures and meetings with local Polonia. It was a time when Norwid made many new social, artistic and political contacts. At that time he also lost his Russian passport, and after he refused to join the Russian diplomatic service, the Russian authorities confiscated his estate. He was also arrested for trying to cross back to Russia without his passport, and his short stay in Berlin prison resulted in partial deafness.[7][9]: 269 [12] After being forced to leave Prussia in 1846, Norwid went to Brussels.[7] During the European Revolutions of 1848, he stayed in Rome, where he met fellow Polish intellectuals Adam Mickiewicz and Zygmunt Krasiński.[7]

During 1849–1852, Norwid lived in Paris, where he met fellow Poles

blindness and deafness, but still managed to publish some content in the Polish-language Parisian publication Goniec polski and similar venues.[9]: 269 [15][16] 1849 saw several of his poems published, those included among others his Pieśń społeczna [pl] (Social Song).[14]: 816  Some of his other notable works from that period include the drama Zwolon [pl] and the philosophical poem-treaty about the nature of art, Promethidion [pl], both published in 1851.[7][17] Promethidion, a long treatise on aesthetics in verse, has been called "the first important piece of Norwid's writing".[14]: 814  It was, however, not well received by contemporary critics.[14]: 816  That year also saw him finishing the manuscripts for the dramas Krakus [pl] and Wanda [pl][18][19] and the poem Bema pamięci żałobny rapsod (A Funeral Rhapsody in Memory of General Bem).[20][21]

United States

Norwid decided to emigrate to the United States in the Fall of 1852, receiving some sponsorship from

Crystal Palace Exhibition and the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations.[9]: 269 [14]: 816 [24] By autumn, he learned about the outbreak of the Crimean War. This, as well as his disappointment with America, which he felt lacked "history", made him consider a return to Europe, and he wrote to Mickiewicz and Herzen, asking for their assistance.[9]: 269 [23]

Back in Paris

During April 1854, Norwid returned to Europe with Prince Marceli Lubomirski [pl]. He lived in England and with Krasiński's help he was finally able to return to Paris by December that year.[23] Over the next few years Norwid was able to publish several works, such as the poem and Quidam. Przypowieść [pl] (Quidam. A Story, 1857) and stories collected in Czarne kwiaty [pl] (Black Flowers) and Białe kwiaty [pl] (White Flowers), published in Czas [pl] in 1856–1857.[7][14]: 815–816 [25] He gave a well-received series of six lectures on Juliusz Słowacki in 1860, published the next year.[14]: 816  1862 saw the publication of some of his poems in an anthology Poezje (Poems) at Brockhaus in Leipzig.[b][14]: 816 [9]: 269  He took a very keen interest in the outbreak of the 1863 January Uprising (a Polish–Lithuanian revolt against the Russian Empire). Although he could not participate personally due to his poor health, Norwid hoped to personally influence the outcome of the event by establishing a newspaper or magazine; that project however did not come to fruition.[27] His 1865 Fortepian Szopena [pl] (Chopin's Piano) is seen as one of his works reacting to the January Uprising.[28][13]: 54–58  The poem's theme is the Russian troops' 1863 defenestration of Chopin's piano from the music school Norwid attended in his youth.[29][30][31]: 514–515 

Norwid continued writing, but most of his work met with little recognition. He grew to accept this, and even wrote in one his works that "the sons pass by this writing, but you, my distant grandchild, will read it... when I'll be no more" (Klaskaniem mając obrzękłe prawice... [pl], The Hands Were Swollen by Clapping..., 1858).[14]: 814 

Norwid, Paris, 1861

In 1866, the poet finished his work on

words, which was well received at that time. The next year he wrote Assunta [pl], a poem reflecting his views on Christian love, which Hungarian poet George Gömöri called Norwid's "most successful narrative poem".[14]: 815 [34] Those years also saw him write three more plays, comedies Aktor. Komediodrama [pl] (Actor. Comedy-drama, 1867), Za kulisami [pl] (Behind the Scenes, 1865–1866), and Pierścień Wielkiej Damy [pl] (The Ring of a Grand Lady, 1872), which Gömöri praised as Norwid's "real genre within the theater".[14]: 815  The latter play became Norwid's most frequently performed theater piece, although like many of his works, it gained recognition long after his death (published in print in 1933, and staged in 1936).[14]: 815 [35][36]: 291 [c]

In 1877 his cousin, Michał Kleczkowski [pl] relocated Norwid to the St. Casimir's Institute nursing home [pl] (Œuvre de Saint Casimir) on the outskirts of Paris in Ivry.[7][14]: 816 [37] That location, run by Polish nuns, was home to many destitute Polish emigrants.[7][9]: 270  There, Norwid was befriended by Teodor Jełowicki who also gave him material support.[38]: 276  Some of his final works include a comedy play Miłość czysta u kąpieli morskich [pl] (Pure Love at Sea Baths, 1880), the philosophical treatesie Milczenie [pl] (Silence, 1882), and novels Ad leones! [pl] (written c. 1881–83), Stygmat (Stigmata, 1881–82) and Tajemnica lorda Singelworth (The Secret of Lord Singelworth, 1883).[39] Throughout his life, he also wrote many letters, over a thousand of which survived to be studied by scholars.[7]

During the last months of his life, Norwid was weak and bed-ridden. He frequently wept and refused to speak with anyone. He died in the morning of 23 May 1883.[7] Jełowicki and Kleczkjowski personally covered the burial costs, and Norwid's funeral was also attended by Franciszek Duchiński and Mieczysław Geniusz [pl].[40] After 15 years the funds to maintain his grave dried out and his body was moved to a mass grave of Polish emigrants.[7]

Themes and views

Norwid's early style could be classified as belonging within the romanticism tradition, but it soon evolved beyond it.

modernist.[7][14]: 814  Polish literary critics, Przemysław Czapliński [pl], Tamara Trojanowska and Joanna Niżyńska described Norwid as "a 'late child' and simultaneously a great critic of Romanticism" and "the first post-Romantic poet [of Poland]".[42]: 68  Danuta Borchardt who translated some of Norwid's poems to English wrote that "Norwid's work belongs to late Romanticism. However, he was so original that scholars cannot pigeonhole his work into any specific literary period".[41]: 5  Czesław Miłosz, a Polish poet and Nobel laureate, wrote that "[Norwid] preserved complete independence from the literary currents of the day".[9]: 271  This could be seen in his short stories, which went against the common trend in the 19th century to write realistic prose and instead are more aptly described as "modern parables".[9]: 279 

Norwid in 1882, by
Pantaleon Szyndler

Critics and literary historians eventually concluded that during his life, Norwid was rejected by his contemporaries as his works were too unique. His style incresingly departing from then-prevailing forms and themes found in romanticism and positivism, and the subjects of his works were also often not aligned with the political views of the emigre Poles.[7][43][44] His style was criticized for "being obscure and overly cerebral" and having a "jarring syntax".[41]: 5 [9]: 268  Even today, a number of scholars refer to his works, in this context, as "dark", meaning "weird" or "difficult to understand".[45]

While Norwid did not create

neologisms, he would change words creating new variations of existing language, and he also experimented with syntax and punctuation, for example through the use of hyphenated words, which are uncommon in the Polish language. Much of his work is rhymed, although some is seen as a precursor to free verse that later became more common in Polish poetry.[41]: 5  Miłosz noted that Norwid was "against aestheticism", and that he aimed to "break the monotony... of the syllabic pattern", purposefully making his verses "roughhewn".[9]
: 271 

While Norwid displays a Romantic admiration for heroes, he almost never addresses the concept of

mass culture. His portrayal of women characters has been praised as more developed than that of many of his contemporaries, whose female characters were more one-dimensional.[7] Borchardt summarized his ideas as "that of a man deeply distressed by and disappointed in mankind, yet hopeful of its eventual redemption".[41]: 5  Miłosz pointed out that Norwid used irony (comparing his use of it to Jules Laforgue or T. S. Eliot), but it was "so hidden within symbols and parables" that it was often missed by most readers. He also argued that Norwid is "undoubtedly... the most 'intellectual' poet to ever write in Polish", although lack of audience has "permitted him to indulge in such a torturing of the language that some of his lines are hopelessely obscure".[9]
: 271–272, 275, 278 

Norwid's works featured more than purely Polish context, employing pan-European, Greco-Christian symbology.

labor, particularly in the context of artistic work, with his discussions of issues such as how should artists be compensated in the capitalistic society - although Miłosz noted that Norwid was not a socialist.[7][14]: 814 [9]
: 273–274 

Norwid's work has also been treated as deeply philosophical.

Stanisław Brzozowski. Nonetheless, Miłosz disagrees with that notion, quoting Mieczysław Jastrun who wrote that Norwid was "first of all, an artist, but an artist for whom the most interesting material is thought, reflection, the cultural experience of mankind".[9]
: 280 

Legacy and commemoration

Following his death, many of Norwid's works were forgotten; it was not until the early 20th century, in the Young Poland period, that his finesse and style was appreciated.[9]: 266 [41]: 6  At that time, his work was discovered and popularised by Zenon Przesmycki, a Polish poet and literary critic who was a member of the Polish Academy of Literature. Przesmycki started republishing Norwid's works c. 1897, and created an enduring image of him, one of "the dramatic legend of the cursed poet".[7][9]: 270 [48]

Norwid's "Collected Works" (Dzieła Zebrane) were published in 1966 by Juliusz Wiktor Gomulicki [pl], a Norwid biographer and commentator. The full iconic collection of Norwid's work was released during the period 1971–76 as Pisma Wszystkie ("Collected Works"). Comprising 11 volumes, it includes all of Norwid's poetry as well as his letters and reproductions of his artwork.[49][50]

On 24 September 2001, 118 years after his death, an urn with soil from the collective grave where Norwid had been interred in Paris' Montmorency cemetery was buried in the "Crypts of the Bards [pl]" at Wawel Cathedral. There, Norwid's remains were placed next to those of fellow Polish poets Adam Mickiewicz and Juliusz Słowacki. During a mass held at the cathedral, the Archbishop of Kraków, cardinal Franciszek Macharski said that the doors of the crypt have opened "to receive the great poet, Cyprian Norwid, into Wawel's royal cathedral, for he was an equal of kings".[51][52][53]

In 2021, on the 200th anniversary of Norwid's birth, the brothers Stephen and Timothy Quay produced a short film titled Vade-mecum about the poet's life and work in an attempt to promote his legacy among foreign audiences.[54][55]

Norwid is often considered the fourth more important poet of the Polish romanticism, and called the Fourth of the Three Bards.[42]: 68  In fact, some literary critics of the late 20th-century Poland were skeptical as to the value of Krasiński's work and considered Norwid to be the Third bard instead of Fourth.[56][57]: 276 [58]: 8  Well known in Poland, and a part of Polish school's curricula, Norwid nonetheless remains obscure in English-speaking world.[44] He has been praised as the best poet of the 19th century by Joseph Brodsky and Tomas Venclova.[59] Miłosz notes he has become recognized as a "precusor of modern Polish poetry".[9]: 268 

The life and work of Norwid have been subject to a number of scholarly treatments. Those include the English-language collection of essays about him, published after a 1983 conference held to commemorate century since his death (Cyprian Norwid (1821-1883): Poet - Thinker - Craftsman, 1988) [60] or monographs such as Jacek Lyszczyna [pl]'s (2016) Cyprian Norwid. Poeta wieku dziewiętnastego (Cyprian Norwid. A Poet of the Nineteenth Century).[8] An academic journal dedicated to the study of Norwid, Studia Norwidiana [pl], has been published since 1983.[61]

Works

Bas relief of Norwid, Wawel Cathedral

Norwid authored numerous works, from poems, both epic and short, to plays, short stories, essays and letters. During his lifetime, according to Miłosz

Bema pamięci rapsod żałobny as one of his most famous poems.[9]
: 272–275 

Norwid's most extensive work,Vade-mecum, written between 1858 and 1865, was first published a century after his death.

United States of America, and by Jerzy Pietrkiewicz and Adam Czerniawski in Britain.[62][63] A number have also received translations to other languages, such as Bengali,[64] French,[65] German,[66] Italian,[67] Russian,[68] Slovakian[69] and Ukrainian.[70]

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ a b According to his birth certificate, he was named Cyprian Ksawery Gerard Walenty Norwid. However, he is usually referred to with the middle name Kamil he chose for himself during his Catholic confirmation ceremony (on 27 March 1845 in Santi Claudio Church in Rome.).[1]: 50 [2]
  2. ^ The volume was published in 1862 but with a printed date of 1863.[26]
  3. ^ Miłosz noted that Norwid's plays are permormed in Poland occasionally but "they are difficult to stage on account of their reliance upon innuendos and their deliberate avoidance of blatant effects. They could more aptly be called dramatic poems".[9]: 279 

Citations

  1. ^ Warneńska, Monika (1966). Mazowieckie ścieżki pisarzy [Masovian Writers Paths] (in Polish). Państw. Institut Wydawn.
  2. ISSN 0035-7707.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link
    )
  3. ^ a b Gomulicki, Juliusz W. (1965). Wprowadzenie do biografii Norwida [Introduction to Norwid's biography] (in Polish). Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy.
  4. ^
    ISBN 978-83-66267-10-7
    .
  5. ^ Gomulicki, Juliusz W. (1976). Cyprian Norwid: przewodnik po życiu i twórczości [Cyprian Norwid: a guide to life and work] (in Polish). Państ. Instytut Wydawniczy.
  6. ISBN 978-83-211-0580-2
    .
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa "Norwid Cyprian Kamil". Encyklopedia PWN (in Polish). Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  8. ^
    ISBN 978-83-8012-878-1
    .
  9. ^
    ISBN 978-0-520-04477-7
    .
  10. ISBN 978-83-85576-29-7
    .
  11. ISSN 0860-0562
    .
  12. JSTOR 308282
    .
  13. ^
    ISBN 978-0-8057-2656-5
    .
  14. ^
    ISBN 978-1-135-45578-1
    .
  15. S2CID 245260831
    .
  16. JSTOR 25777532
    .
  17. ^ "Norwid Cyprian, Bema pamięci rapsod żałobny - Materiały dodatkowe" [Norwid Cyprian, Bem's Memory Funeral Rhapsody - Additional materials]. encyklopedia.pwn.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  18. ISSN 2082-9701
    .
  19. ISSN 1896-3455
    .
  20. ISSN 2450-5765
    .
  21. ISSN 1230-2287
    .
  22. ISBN 978-83-02-03432-9
    .
  23. ^
    JSTOR 25779271
    .
  24. ^
    JSTOR 25778012
    .
  25. ^ "Norwid Cyprian, Czarne kwiaty, Białe kwiaty - Materiały dodatkowe" [Norwid Cyprian, Black flowers, White flowers - Supplementary materials]. encyklopedia.pwn.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  26. S2CID 245224098
    .
  27. ISSN 0860-0562
    .
  28. ISBN 978-1-317-85363-3
    .
  29. S2CID 70217528
    .
  30. JSTOR 10.5749/culturalcritique.103.2019.0036
    .
  31. OCLC 69343086
    .
  32. ^ Norwid, Cyprian (1971). Gomulicki, Juliusz W. (ed.). Cyprian Kamil Norwid: Pisma wszystkie [Cyprian Kamil Norwid: All writings] (in Polish). Vol. 2. Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy.
  33. ^ a b "Norwid Cyprian, Vade-mecum - Materiały dodatkowe" [Norwid Cyprian, Vade-mecum - Additional materials]. encyklopedia.pwn.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  34. ^ Doktór, Roman (1998). "Przyczynek do genezy Assunty Cypriana Norwida" [A contribution to the genesis of Cyprian Norwid's Assunta]. Roczniki Humanistyczne (in Polish). 46 (1): 223–230.
  35. ISSN 0031-0514
    .
  36. ^ Rocznik Biblioteki Naukowej PAU i PAN w Krakowie [Yearbook of the Scientific Library of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Polish Academy of Sciences in Kraków] (in Polish). Polska Akademia Umiejętności. 2010.
  37. S2CID 244453655
    .
  38. ^ Norwid, Cyprian (1971). Pisma wszystkie: Listy [All Writings: Letters] (in Polish). Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy.
  39. ^ "Norwid Cyprian, "Ad leones!" - Materiały dodatkowe" [Norwid Cyprian, "Ad leones!" - Additional materials]. encyklopedia.pwn.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  40. ISSN 0860-0562
    .
  41. ^
    ISBN 978-1-935744-53-5
    .
  42. ^
    ISBN 978-1-4426-5018-3
    .
  43. OCLC 8546813. Translated to Polish as in: Jauss, Hans Robert. "Przedmowa do pierwszego niemieckiego wydania Vade-mecum Cypriana Norwida. (Przełożył z języka niemieckiego Michał Kaczmarkowski)
    ." [Preface to the first German edition of Cyprian Norwid's Vade-mecum. (Translated from German by Michał Kaczmarkowski)] Studia Norwidiana 3 (1986): 3-11.
  44. ^ a b Wilson, Joshua (30 May 2012). "Flames of Goodness". The New Republic. Retrieved 30 May 2012.
  45. S2CID 214423265
    .
  46. JSTOR 25778512
    .
  47. ISSN 2082-8578
    .
  48. ISSN 0860-0562
    .
  49. ^ Trojanowiczowa, Zofia (1986). "Uwagi o pierwszych dwu tomach Pism wszystkich Cypriana Norwida w opracowaniu Juliusza W. Gomulickiego" [Comments on the first two volumes of Cyprian Norwid's Complete Works, edited by Juliusz W. Gomulicki] (PDF). Studia Norwidiana 3. 3: 243–250.
  50. ISSN 0860-0562
    .
  51. ^ "Norwid laid to rest in Wawel Cathedral". info-poland.icm.edu.pl. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  52. ^ "Symboliczny pochówek Norwida na Wawelu" [Symbolic burial of Cyprian Norwid at Wawel]. Onet Wiadomości (in Polish). 25 September 2001. Retrieved 4 September 2023.
  53. ^ Redakcja (25 September 2001). "Wśród królów" [Among the Kings]. Dziennik Polski (in Polish). Retrieved 4 September 2023.
  54. ^ Konopka, Blanka (13 April 2021). "Award-winning Quay brothers create Norwid film to promote poet's work to foreign audiences". The First News. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  55. ^ Konopka, Blanka (24 September 2021). "'Underappreciated' poet Norwid honoured on his 200th birthday with events across the country". The First News.
  56. ^ Van Cant, Katrin (2009). "Historical Memory in Post-Communist Poland: Warsaw's Monuments after 1989". Studies in Slavic Cultures. 8: 90–119.
  57. ISBN 978-0-691-22821-1
    .
  58. ISBN 978-83-226-2066-3
    .
  59. ^ Korpysz, Tomasz (2018). "Introducion". Colloquia Litteraria. 4.
  60. JSTOR 25778583
    .
  61. ^ "ISSN 2544-4433 (Online) | Studia Norwidiana | The ISSN Portal". portal.issn.org. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  62. ^ "Polish Literature in English Translations:19th Century". polishlit.org. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
  63. ^ Czerniawski, Adam Christianson (1 April 2005). "Cyprian Norwid's obscurities". Sarmatian Review. 25 (2): 1138.
  64. ^ "Daily Observer | 24 February 2015, tuesday". www.eobserverbd.com. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  65. S2CID 213013869
    .
  66. ISSN 0860-0562
    .
  67. ISSN 0860-0562
    .
  68. ^ Inglot, Mieczysław (2002). "Nad tomikiem rosyjskich tłumaczeń twórczości Cypriana Norwida" [Over a volume of Russian translations of Cyprian Norwid's works]. Przegląd Humanistyczny. 46 (5 (374)): 153–156.
  69. ^ Rudnicka, Jadwiga (1983). "Pierwsze wydanie osobne Norwida po słowacku" [The first separate edition of Norwid in Slovak]. Studia Norwidiana (in Polish). 1: 136–138.
  70. ISSN 2544-8900.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of January 2024 (link
    )

Further reading

  • Jarzębowski, Józef. Norwid i Zmartwychstańcy. London: Veritas, 1960. ("Norwid and The Resurrectionists")
  • Kalergis, Maria. Listy do Adama Potockiego (Letters to Adam Potocki), edited by Halina Kenarowa, translated from the French by Halina Kenarowa and Róża Drojecka, Warsaw, 1986.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cyprian Kamil Norwid.
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Collection of works

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