Jan Kasprowicz
Encyclopedia
Jan Kasprowicz was a poet
, playwright
, critic
and translator; a foremost representative of Young Poland
.
, to an illiterate peasant
family. From 1870 he studied in Prussian
gymnasia
in Inowrocław, Poznań
, Opole
, Racibórz
, and in 1884 graduated from Mary Magdalen Gymnasium in Poznań. He studied philosophy and literature in German universities in Leipzig
and Wrocław. During his studies he began having articles and poetry published, working with various Polish magazines. For his activities in socialist circles he was twice arrested by Prussian police and spent half a year in prison.
After his release from prison, at the age of 28 Kasprowicz moved to Lwów
, where he spent the next 35 years of his life. He worked as a journalist and critic of literature and theatre, working for two years in the editorial department of the newspaper, the Polish Courier (Kurier Polski) and for the following four years (1902–1906) editorializing for the newspaper, the Polish Word (Słowo Polskie). At the same time, with unusual productivity, Kasprowicz wrote and had published his own works and poetry, to critical acclaim.
In 1904 he received a doctorate from Lwów University for his treatise
, the Lyrics of Teofil Lenartowicz (Liryka Teofila Lenartowicza). In 1909 at Lwów University he became the head of the Department of Comparative Literature
, a department founded for him to run.
The largely self-taught Kasprowicz mastered the classical Latin
and Greek
languages, as well as French
and English. His works included critically acclaimed translations of great literary works:
Nature gifted Kasprowicz with good health and a strong constitution. Stanisław Lem wrote of him: "He had in his bearing the originality of a gypsy and the hustle of a journalist, which, over time, allowed him to earn the money he needed, gave him the good humour of a friend, and - even then - a professorial gravity." He was - with a notable group of friends - a frequent guest at the pubs and wineries of Lwów, especially the famous winery and wine bar of Stadtmueller still present at the market, number 34.
His first marriage — to Teodozja Szymańska in 1886 — dissolved after a few months. In 1893 he married Jadwiga Gąsowska. In 1899 she dramatically left him and their daughters for the writer Stanisław Przybyszewski. In 1911, he was married again, this time to the much younger Maria Bunin, a Russian girl whom he met on a train from Rome
to Naples
while on one of his artistic travels. She was the daughter of the Tsarist general, Victor Bunin.
In 1921-22 he was rector
of Lwów University.
In the last twenty years of his life, Kasprowicz more and more frequently visited the Tatra Mountains
. In 1923 he permanently settled in the villa, "Harenda", between Poronin
and Zakopane
, where he died on August 1, 1926.
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
, critic
Critic
A critic is anyone who expresses a value judgement. Informally, criticism is a common aspect of all human expression and need not necessarily imply skilled or accurate expressions of judgement. Critical judgements, good or bad, may be positive , negative , or balanced...
and translator; a foremost representative of Young Poland
Young Poland
Young Poland is a modernist period in Polish visual arts, literature and music, covering roughly the years between 1890 and 1918. It was a result of strong aesthetic opposition to the ideas of Positivism...
.
Life
Kasprowicz was born in the village of Szymborze (now part of Inowrocław) within the Province of PosenProvince of Posen
The Province of Posen was a province of Prussia from 1848–1918 and as such part of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918. The area was about 29,000 km2....
, to an illiterate peasant
Peasant
A peasant is an agricultural worker who generally tend to be poor and homeless-Etymology:The word is derived from 15th century French païsant meaning one from the pays, or countryside, ultimately from the Latin pagus, or outlying administrative district.- Position in society :Peasants typically...
family. From 1870 he studied in Prussian
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
gymnasia
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
in Inowrocław, Poznań
Poznan
Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be...
, Opole
Opole
Opole is a city in southern Poland on the Oder River . It has a population of 125,992 and is the capital of the Upper Silesia, Opole Voivodeship and, also the seat of Opole County...
, Racibórz
Racibórz
Racibórz is a town in southern Poland with 60,218 inhabitants situated in the Silesian Voivodeship , previously in Katowice Voivodeship...
, and in 1884 graduated from Mary Magdalen Gymnasium in Poznań. He studied philosophy and literature in German universities in Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
and Wrocław. During his studies he began having articles and poetry published, working with various Polish magazines. For his activities in socialist circles he was twice arrested by Prussian police and spent half a year in prison.
After his release from prison, at the age of 28 Kasprowicz moved to Lwów
Lviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
, where he spent the next 35 years of his life. He worked as a journalist and critic of literature and theatre, working for two years in the editorial department of the newspaper, the Polish Courier (Kurier Polski) and for the following four years (1902–1906) editorializing for the newspaper, the Polish Word (Słowo Polskie). At the same time, with unusual productivity, Kasprowicz wrote and had published his own works and poetry, to critical acclaim.
In 1904 he received a doctorate from Lwów University for his treatise
Treatise
A treatise is a formal and systematic written discourse on some subject, generally longer and treating it in greater depth than an essay, and more concerned with investigating or exposing the principles of the subject.-Noteworthy treatises:...
, the Lyrics of Teofil Lenartowicz (Liryka Teofila Lenartowicza). In 1909 at Lwów University he became the head of the Department of Comparative Literature
Comparative literature
Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the literature of two or more different linguistic, cultural or national groups...
, a department founded for him to run.
The largely self-taught Kasprowicz mastered the classical Latin
Classical Latin
Classical Latin in simplest terms is the socio-linguistic register of the Latin language regarded by the enfranchised and empowered populations of the late Roman republic and the Roman empire as good Latin. Most writers during this time made use of it...
and Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
languages, as well as French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and English. His works included critically acclaimed translations of great literary works:
- Greek (AeschylusAeschylusAeschylus was the first of the three ancient Greek tragedians whose work has survived, the others being Sophocles and Euripides, and is often described as the father of tragedy. His name derives from the Greek word aiskhos , meaning "shame"...
, EuripidesEuripidesEuripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him but according to the Suda it was ninety-two at most...
) - English (Shakespeare, MarloweChristopher MarloweChristopher Marlowe was an English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. As the foremost Elizabethan tragedian, next to William Shakespeare, he is known for his blank verse, his overreaching protagonists, and his mysterious death.A warrant was issued for Marlowe's arrest on 18 May...
, Lord Byron, ShelleyPercy Bysshe ShelleyPercy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English Romantic poets and is critically regarded as among the finest lyric poets in the English language. Shelley was famous for his association with John Keats and Lord Byron...
, KeatsJohn KeatsJohn Keats was an English Romantic poet. Along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, he was one of the key figures in the second generation of the Romantic movement, despite the fact that his work had been in publication for only four years before his death.Although his poems were not...
, TagoreRabindranath TagoreRabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
, SwinburneAlgernon Charles SwinburneAlgernon Charles Swinburne was an English poet, playwright, novelist, and critic. He invented the roundel form, wrote several novels, and contributed to the famous Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica...
, WildeOscar WildeOscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
, among others) - German (Goethe, SchillerFriedrich SchillerJohann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright. During the last seventeen years of his life , Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe...
) - French (VauvenarguesVauvenarguesVauvenargues may refer to:* Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues, French writer* Vauvenargues, a commune of the Bouches-du-Rhône département in southern France, near Aix-en-Provence...
, BertrandAloysius BertrandLouis-Jacques-Napoléon “Aloysius” Bertrand was a French poet instrumental in the introduction of the prose poem into French literature and is credited with inspiring later Symbolist poets...
, RimbaudArthur RimbaudJean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud was a French poet. Born in Charleville, Ardennes, he produced his best known works while still in his late teens—Victor Hugo described him at the time as "an infant Shakespeare"—and he gave up creative writing altogether before the age of 21. As part of the decadent...
, MaeterlinckMaurice MaeterlinckMaurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck, also called Comte Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911. The main themes in his work are death and the meaning of life...
) - Italian (d'AnnunzioGabriele D'AnnunzioGabriele D'Annunzio or d'Annunzio was an Italian poet, journalist, novelist, and dramatist...
) - Norwegian (IbsenHenrik IbsenHenrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...
) - Dutch (HeijermansHerman HeijermansHerman Heijermans , was a Dutch writer.Heijermans grew up in a liberal Jewish family as the fifth of 11 children of Herman Heijermans Sr. and Matilda Moses Spiers...
)
Nature gifted Kasprowicz with good health and a strong constitution. Stanisław Lem wrote of him: "He had in his bearing the originality of a gypsy and the hustle of a journalist, which, over time, allowed him to earn the money he needed, gave him the good humour of a friend, and - even then - a professorial gravity." He was - with a notable group of friends - a frequent guest at the pubs and wineries of Lwów, especially the famous winery and wine bar of Stadtmueller still present at the market, number 34.
His first marriage — to Teodozja Szymańska in 1886 — dissolved after a few months. In 1893 he married Jadwiga Gąsowska. In 1899 she dramatically left him and their daughters for the writer Stanisław Przybyszewski. In 1911, he was married again, this time to the much younger Maria Bunin, a Russian girl whom he met on a train from Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
to Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
while on one of his artistic travels. She was the daughter of the Tsarist general, Victor Bunin.
In 1921-22 he was rector
Rector
The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...
of Lwów University.
In the last twenty years of his life, Kasprowicz more and more frequently visited the Tatra Mountains
Tatra Mountains
The Tatra Mountains, Tatras or Tatra , are a mountain range which forms a natural border between Slovakia and Poland, and are the highest mountain range in the Carpathian Mountains...
. In 1923 he permanently settled in the villa, "Harenda", between Poronin
Poronin
Poronin , is a village in southern Poland situated in Tatra County of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship since 1999 . It lies approximately north-east of Zakopane and south of the regional capital Kraków.-References:...
and Zakopane
Zakopane
Zakopane , is a town in southern Poland. It lies in the southern part of the Podhale region at the foot of the Tatra Mountains. From 1975 to 1998 it was in of Nowy Sącz Province, but since 1999 it has been in Lesser Poland Province. It had a population of about 28,000 as of 2004. Zakopane is a...
, where he died on August 1, 1926.
Works
- (1889) Poezje (Poems)
- (1890) Chrystus (Christ)
- (1891) Z chłopskiego zagonu (From Rustic Field)
- (1894) Anima lachrymans i inne nowe poezje (Anima lachrymans and another new poems)
- (1895) Miłość (The Love)
- (1898) Krzak dzikiej róży (The Briar's Bush)
- (1901) Ginącemu światu (To The Perishing World)
- (1902) Salve Regina
- (1908) Ballada o słoneczniku (The Ballad About Sunflower)
- (1911) Chwile (Moments)
- (1916) Księga ubogich (The Book of The Poor)
- (1921) Hymny (The Hymnal)
Further reading
- Mortkowicz-Olczakowa, Hanna (1961). Bunt wspomnień. Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy.