Juliusz Słowacki (; ; ; 4 September 1809 – 3 April 1849) was a Polish Romantic poet. He is considered one of the "Three Bards" of Polish literature — a major figure in the Polish Romantic period, and the father of modern Polish drama. His works often feature elements of Slavic paganism, Polish history, mysticism and orientalism. His style includes the employment of neologisms and irony. His primary genre was the drama, but he also wrote lyric poetry. His most popular works include the dramas Kordian and Balladyna and the poems Beniowski, Testament mój and Anhelli.

Słowacki spent his youth in the so-called "Stolen Lands" within the Russian Empire, in Kremenets (, now in Ukraine) and in Vilnius (now Lithuania). He briefly worked for the government of the Kingdom of Poland. During the November 1830 Uprising, he was a courier for the Polish revolutionary government. When the uprising ended in defeat, he found himself abroad and thereafter, like many compatriots, lived the life of an émigré. He settled briefly in Paris, France, and later in Geneva, Switzerland. He also traveled through Italy, Greece and the Middle East. Eventually he returned to Paris, where he spent the last decade of his life. He briefly returned to Poland when another uprising broke out during the Spring of Nations (1848).

Life

Youth

thumb|upright=1|right|Poet's mother, Salomea, née Januszewska

Słowacki was born on 4 September 1809 at Kremenets (in Polish, Krzemieniec), Volhynia, formerly part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth but then in the Russian Empire and now in Ukraine.

His father, , a Polish nobleman of the Leliwa coat of arms, taught rhetoric, poetry, Polish language, and the history of literature at the Krzemieniec Lyceum in Kremenets; from 1811 he held the chair (katedra) of rhetoric and poetry at Vilnius Imperial University. He died in 1814, leaving Juliusz to be raised solely by his mother, (née Januszewska). It was there in 1822 that the 13-year-old met Adam Mickiewicz, the first of the Three Bards of Polish literature. In 1829 he moved to Warsaw, where he found a job in Congress Poland's . On 8 March 1831 he was sent on a courier mission to Dresden In Dresden, Słowacki was well received by the local Polish émigré community, and even welcomed as "the bard of fighting Warsaw." In July 1831 he volunteered to deliver messages from the National Government to its representatives in London and Paris, where he heard about the fall of the Uprising.

Emigration

thumb|right|upright=1|Słowacki in his younger years, depicted by Tytus Byczkowski

Like many of his countrymen, Słowacki decided to stay in France as a political refugee. In 1832 he published his first collections of poems and his first two dramas (' and '). In a letter to his mother Słowacki wrote that immediately after reading that work he was ready to challenge Mickiewicz for a duel; that did not come to pass but from that moment on, Słowacki would see Mickiewicz as his main rival. Few days later, antagonized by worsening reception of his works among the Polish émigré community in Paris, including sharp criticism from Mickiewicz, Słowacki left on a trip to Geneva, Switzerland.

thumb|left|upright=1.0|[[Zygmunt Krasiński]]

In 1836, Słowacki left Switzerland and embarked on a journey that started in Italy. Krasiński is considered the first serious literary critic of Słowacki's work. He was a shrewd investor who earned enough from the investments to dedicate his life to his literary career; he was also able to pay the costs of having his books published. Others included enthusiasts of his work, such as Zygmunt Szczęsny Feliński, Józef Alojzy Reitzenheim and Józef Komierowski.

Arrested by the Prussian police, Słowacki was sent back to Paris.

Work

thumb|right|upright=1.4|Funeral, [[Kraków, 1927]]

Słowacki was a prolific writer; his collected works (Dzieła wszystkie) were published in 17 volumes. His legacy includes 25 dramas and 253 works of poetry. He wrote in many genres: dramas, lyrical poems, literary criticism, letters, journals and memoirs, fragments of two novels, and a political brochure; he was also a translator.

Although the majority of his works were in Polish, he tried his hand at several works in French language (Le roi de Landawa, Beatrix Cenci).

Polish literary historian divides Słowacki's work into four periods: Wolter's circle (pseudoclassicism), Christian ethic, Towiański's ethic and genesic ethic. Other scholars offer slightly different periodizations; for example dividing his works into a classical period, a Swiss period, a Parisian period and a genesis period.). and as Słowacki's response to Mickiewicz's Dziady. This Ławski calls "ivy-like imagination", comparing Słowacki's approach to that of an ivy, growing around works of others and reshaping them into new forms in a sophisticated literary game.

Słowacki was not a very popular figure in Paris, nor among his contemporaries. He wrote many dramas, which can be seen as his favorite genre, yet he was a playwright who never saw any of his work performed on stage (only Mazepa was staged during his lifetime, and not in his presence). While a small circle of his friends talked about his wit, perseverance and inspiration, in popular memory he was a "sickly man of weak character", egocentric, bitter due to his failed rivalry with Mickiewicz. Mickiewicz himself wrote of Słowacki's work as a "beautiful church, but without God inside". He was interred in the , beside Mickiewicz. in Łódź and in Wrocław. There are several monuments of Juliusz Słowacki, including ones in Warsaw (2001) and Wrocław (1984).

Among the most notable landmarks bearing his name is the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Kraków, and the , Ukraine, opened in 2004 at his family's former manor house. In 2009 the Polish Sejm (parliament) declared that year, the two-hundredth anniversary of Słowacki's birth, to be the Year of Juliusz Słowacki. The oldest monument to Juliusz Słowacki, unveiled in 1899, is in Miloslaw Park.

In 2014, his 205th birthday was honored with a Google Doodle.

Selected works

Drama

thumb|upright=1.75|Słowacki monument, [[Wrocław]]

  • Balladyna (1834, published 1839, performed 1862)
  • Fantazy (1841, published 1866, performed 1867)
  • Horsztyński (1835, published 1866, performed 1871)
  • Kordian (1833, published 1834, performed 1899)
  • Ksiądz Marek (Father Marek, 1843, published same year, performed 1901)
  • Książę niezłomny (The Constant Prince, after Pedro Calderón de la Barca, 1843, published 1844, performed 1874)
  • Lilla Weneda (1839, published 1840, performed 1863)
  • Maria Stuart (1830, performed 1862)
  • Mazepa (1839, published 1840, performed in Hungarian 1847, performed in Polish 1851)
  • Sen srebny Salomei (The Silver Dream of Salomea, 1843, published 1844, performed 1900)
  • Samuel Zborowski (1845, published 1903, performed 1911)

Poetry

  • Anhelli (1838)
  • Arab (1830)
  • Lambro, powstańca grecki (Lambro, a Greek insurgent, 1833)
  • Beniowski (1841–1846)
  • Genezis z Ducha (Genesis from the Spirit, 1844)
  • Godzina myśli (An Hour of Thought, 1832–1833)
  • Hugo. Powieść krzyżacka (Hugo. Teutonic Order Novel, 1830)
  • Król-Duch (The Spirit King, portions published 1847, published in full 1925)
  • Ojciec zadżumionych (The Father of the Plague-stricken, 1838)
  • Podróż do ziemi świętej ("Voyage to the Holy Land", 1866)
  • Testament mój (My Last Will, 1839–1840)
  • W Szwajcarii (In Switzerland, 1835, published 1839)
  • Wacław (1838)

thumb|right|75px|Family [[coat of arms|coat-of-arms, Leliwa]]

Notes

References

  • Slowacki´s biography
  • A multililngual site created by Dr. Z. W. Wolkowski for the sesquicentennial of Słowacki's death, containing biographical texts, poetry, translations and other information about the poet.
  • Juliusz Słowacki at poezja.org (polish)
  • Juliusz Słowacki at culture.pl

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