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Julian Tuwim (13 September 1894 – 27 December 1953), known also under the pseudonym "Oldlen" as a lyricist, was a Polish poet, born in
Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of ca ...
, then part of the Russian Partition. He was educated in Łódź and in
Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...
where he studied law and
philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...
at
Warsaw University The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields of ...
. After Poland's return to independence in 1918, Tuwim co-founded the Skamander group of experimental poets with
Antoni Słonimski Antoni Słonimski (15 November 1895 – 4 July 1976) was a Polish poet, artist, journalist, playwright and prose writer, president of the Union of Polish Writers in 1956–1959 during the Polish October, known for his devotion to social justi ...
and
Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz Jarosław Leon Iwaszkiewicz, also known under his literary pseudonym Eleuter (20 February 1894 – 2 March 1980), was a Polish writer, poet, essayist, dramatist and translator.Bartłomiej Szleszyński, Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz. 2003 Culture.plJaros ...
. He was a major figure in
Polish literature Polish literature is the literary tradition of Poland. Most Polish literature has been written in the Polish language, though other languages used in Poland over the centuries have also contributed to Polish literary traditions, including Lati ...
, admired also for his contribution to
children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...
. He was a recipient of the prestigious Golden Laurel of the
Polish Academy of Literature The Polish Academy of Literature ( pl, Polska Akademia Literatury, PAL) was one of the most important state institutions of literary life in the Second Polish Republic, operating between 1933 and 1939 with the headquarters in Warsaw. It was foun ...
in 1935.Julian Tuwim (1894-1953)
''Qlturka.pl.'' Europejski Fundusz Rozwoju Regionalnego. Retrieved December 12, 2011.


Life and work

Tuwim was born into a family of assimilated
Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
. The
surname In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community. Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name ...
comes from the
Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
''tovim'' () meaning "good ones". His parents, Izydor and Adela, provided Julian with a comfortable middle-class upbringing. He was not a particularly diligent student and had to repeat the sixth grade. In 1905 the family had to flee from Łódź to
Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, r ...
(Breslau) in order to escape possible repercussions following Izydor's involvement in the
Revolution of 1905 The Russian Revolution of 1905,. also known as the First Russian Revolution,. occurred on 22 January 1905, and was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. The mass unrest was directed again ...
. Initially, Tuwim's poetry, even more than that of the other Skamandrites, represented a decisive break with turn-of-the-20th-century mannerism. It was characterized by an expression of vitality, optimism, in praise of urban life. His poems celebrated everyday life in the city, with its triviality and vulgarity. Tuwim often used vernacular language in his work, along with slang as well as poetic dialogue. His collections ''Czyhanie na Boga'' ("In Lurking for God"; 1918), ''Sokrates tańczący'' ("Dancing Socrates"; 1920), ''Siódma jesień'' ("Seventh Autumn"; 1922), and ''Wierszy tom czwarty'' ("Poems, Volume Four"; 1923) are typical of his early work. In his later collections – ''Słowa we krwi'' ("Words in the Blood"; 1926), ''Rzecz Czarnoleska'' ("The Czarnolas Matter"; 1929), ''Biblia cygańska'' ("The Gypsy Bible"; 1933) and ''Treść gorejąca'' ("A Burning Matter"; 1933) – Tuwim became restless and bitter, and wrote with fervour and vehemence about the emptiness of urban existence. He also drew more heavily from the romantic and
classicist Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Cla ...
traditions, while perfecting his form and style, and becoming a
virtuoso A virtuoso (from Italian ''virtuoso'' or , "virtuous", Late Latin ''virtuosus'', Latin ''virtus'', "virtue", "excellence" or "skill") is an individual who possesses outstanding talent and technical ability in a particular art or field such a ...
wordsmith. From the very beginning and throughout his artistic career, Tuwim was satirically inclined. He supplied sketches and monologues to numerous
cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dinin ...
s. In his poetry and articles, he derided
obscurantism In philosophy, the terms obscurantism and obscurationism describe the anti-intellectual practices of deliberately presenting information in an abstruse and imprecise manner that limits further inquiry and understanding of a subject. There are two ...
and
bureaucracy The term bureaucracy () refers to a body of non-elected governing officials as well as to an administrative policy-making group. Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments staffed with non-elected offi ...
as well as militaristic and nationalistic trends in politics. His
burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.
''Bal w Operze'' ("The Ball at the Opera"; 1936) is regarded as his best satirical poem. In 1918 Tuwim co-founded the
cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dinin ...
(comedy troupe) named Picador and worked as a writer or artistic director with many other comedy troupes, such as Czarny Kot (1917–1919), Quid pro Quo (1919–1932), Banda, Stara Banda (1932–1935), and finally Cyrulik Warszawski (1935–1939). Since 1924, Tuwim was a staff writer at ''Wiadomości Literackie'' where he wrote a weekly column titled ''Camera Obscura''. He also wrote for the satirical magazine '' Szpilki''. Tuwim displayed his caustic sense of humour and unyielding individuality in works such as "Poem in which the author politely but firmly implores the vast hosts of his brethren to kiss his arse." Here, Tuwim systematically enumerates and caricatures various personalities of the European social scene of the mid-1930s -- 'perfumed café intellectuals', 'drab socialists', 'fascist jocks', 'Zionist doctors', 'repressed Catholics' and so on, and ends every stanza by asking each to perform the action indicated in the title. The poem ends with a note to the would-be censor who would surely be tempted to expunge all mention of this piece for its breach of 'public standards.' His poem '' Do prostego człowieka'' (''To the Common Man''), first published on 7 October 1929 in '' Robotnik'', provoked a storm of attacks on Tuwim both from left-wing circles, which criticized the poem's "bourgeois expression of pacifist sentiment", and from
right-wing Right-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that view certain social orders and Social stratification, hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this pos ...
groups which accused Tuwim of calling for the disarmament of the young state. Julian's aunt was married to
Adam Czerniaków Adam Czerniaków (30 November 1880 – 23 July 1942) was a Polish engineer and senator who was head of the Warsaw Ghetto Jewish Council (''Judenrat'') during World War II. He committed suicide on 23 July 1942 by swallowing a cyanide pill, a day a ...
, and his uncle from his mother's side was
Arthur Rubinstein Arthur Rubinstein ( pl, Artur Rubinstein; 28 January 188720 December 1982) was a Polish-American pianist.
.


World War II and after

In 1939, at the beginning of World War II and the German occupation of Poland, Tuwim emigrated through
Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
first to France, and after France's capitulation, to
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, by way of Portugal, and finally to the US, where he settled in 1942. In 1939–1941, he collaborated with the émigré weekly "Wiadomości Polskie", but broke off the collaboration due to differences in views on the attitude towards the Soviet Union. In 1942–1946, he worked with the monthly "Nowa Polska" published in London, and with leftist Polish-American newspapers. He was affiliated with the Polish section of the International Workers Organization from 1942. He was also a member of the Association of Writers From Poland (a member of the board in 1943). During this time he wrote "Kwiaty Polskie" (''Polish Flowers''), an epic poem in which he remembers with nostalgia his early childhood in Łódź. In April 1944 he published a manifesto, entitled "My, Żydzi Polscy" (''We, Polish Jews''). Tuwim returned to Poland after the war in 1946 but did not produce much in
Stalinist Poland Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the theor ...
. He died in 1953 at the age of 59 in
Zakopane Zakopane ( Podhale Goral: ''Zokopane'') is a town in the extreme south of Poland, in the southern part of the Podhale region at the foot of the Tatra Mountains. From 1975 to 1998, it was part of Nowy Sącz Voivodeship; since 1999, it has been ...
. Although Tuwim was well known for serious poetry, he also wrote satirical works and children's poems, for example ''Lokomotywa'' (''The Locomotive''; 1938, tr. 1940), translated into many languages. He also wrote well-regarded
translation Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...
s of
Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...
and other Russian poets. Russian Soviet poet Yelizaveta Tarakhovskaya translated most of Tuwim's children's poetry into Russian.


Notable poems

* ''Czyhanie na Boga'' (''Lurking for God'', 1918) * ''Sokrates tańczący'' (''Dancing Socrates'', 1920) * ''Siódma jesień'' (''The Seventh Autumn'', 1921) * ''Wierszy tom czwarty'' (Poems, volume four, 1923) * '' Murzynek Bambo'' (The little black boy, Bambo, 1923 or 1924, published 1935) * ''Czary i czarty polskie'' (''Sorcery and Deuces of Poland'', 1924) * ''Wypisy czarnoksięskie'' (''The Sorcery Reader'', 1924) * ''A to pan zna?'' (''And do you know this, sir?'', 1925) * ''Czarna msza'' (Black Mass, 1925) * ''Tysiąc dziwów prawdziwych'' (A thousand true wonders, 1925) * ''Słowa we krwi'' (Words in the blood, 1926) * ''Tajemnice amuletów i talizmanów'' (Secrets of amulets and talismans, 1926) * ''Strofy o późnym lecie'' (stanzas on a late summer) * ''Rzecz czarnoleska'' (The Czarnolas affair, 1929) * ''Jeździec miedziany'' (The brazen rider, 1932) * ''Biblia cygańska i inne wiersze'' (The Gypsy Bible and other poems, 1932) * ''Jarmark rymów'' (The rhyme market, 1934) * ''Polski słownik pijacki i antologia bachiczna'' (The Polish drunk's lexicon and anthology of Bacchus, 1935) * ''Treść gorejąca'' (A Burning Matter, 1936) * ''Lokomotywa'' (The Locomotive, 1938) * ''Rzepka'' (The Turnip, 1938) * ''Bal w Operze'' (A ball at the opera, 1936, published 1946) * ''Kwiaty polskie'' (Flowers from Poland, 1940–1946, published 1949) * ''Pegaz dęba, czyli panoptikum poetyckie'' (Oaken Pegasus, or the poetical panoply, 1950) * ''Piórem i piórkiem'' (With pen and quill, 1951)


Tuwim's poems set to music

*
Karol Szymanowski Karol Maciej Szymanowski (; 6 October 188229 March 1937) was a Polish composer and pianist. He was a member of the modernist Young Poland movement that flourished in the late 19th and early 20th century. Szymanowski's early works show the in ...
- ''Słopiewnie'' for voice and piano, op. 46bis (1921) * Witold Lutosławski - ''Piosenki dziecinne'' (Children's Songs) (1952); ''Spóźniony słowik'' (The overdue nightingale, 1947), ''O Panu Tralalińskim'' (About Mr. Tralalinski, 1947), for voice and piano (also arr. for orchestra) * Several of his poems were set to music by
Zygmunt Konieczny Zygmunt Konieczny (born 3 January 1937) is a Polish composer of theatre and film music. Zygmunt Konieczny spent his childhood in the village of Szczyrzyc. He debuted in the 1950s in the cabaret Piwnica pod Baranami in Kraków Kraków ( ...
and sung by
Ewa Demarczyk Ewa Maria Demarczyk (16 January 1941 – 14 August 2020) was a Polish singer, generally associated with the sung poetry genre and the Piwnica pod Baranami cabaret. Demarczyk was recognized as one of the most talented and charismatic singers in ...
, including "Tomaszów" and " Grande Valse Brillante" (this text is part of the Kwiaty Polskie poem, which references the Chopin composition several times) *
Mieczysław Weinberg Mieczysław Weinberg (8 December 1919 – 26 February 1996) was a Polish-born Soviet composer and pianist. Names Much confusion has been caused by different renditions of the composer's names. In official Polish documents made before he mov ...
- Symphony No. 8 ''Polish Flowers'', Op. 83 (1964)Recorded by Naxos Records: * Krzysztof Meyer - ''Quartettino'' for voice, flute, cello and piano (1966); ''Symphony No. 2'' (1967); ''Spiewy polskie'' (Polish Songs) for voice and orchestra (1974) * David Bruce - ''Piosenki'' for soprano, baritone and ensemble (2006) - setting of 11 songs
Piosenki at David Bruce's website
*
Akurat Akurat is a Polish band formed in November 1994 in Bielsko-Biała. 'Akurat' is an ambiguous Polish word, standing for either 'exactly, just enough' or 'yeah, sure right'. The band's style fuses punk rock, reggae, ska Ska (; ) is a music ge ...
- ''Do Prostego Człowieka'' *
Czesław Niemen Czesław Niemen (; February 16, 1939 – January 17, 2004), born Czesław Juliusz Wydrzycki, and often credited as just Niemen, was one of the most important and original Polish singer-songwriters and rock balladeers of the 20th century, singing ...
- ''Wspomnienie'' *
Marek Grechuta Marek Michał Grechuta (10 December 1945 – 9 October 2006) was a Polish singer, songwriter, composer, and lyricist. Early life Grechuta was born on 10 December 1945 in Zamość, Poland. He studied architecture at Tadeusz Kościuszko Universit ...
- ''Mandarynki i pomarańcze''


Further reading

* Keane, Barry (2004) "Skamander. The Poets and Their Poetry.", Agade: Warszawa, . * Mortkowicz-Olczakowa, Hanna (1961). "Bunt wspomnień." Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy.


Notes and references


External links


Julian Tuwim
at culture.pl
English translations of Julian Tuwim’s poetry
**
To the simple man
' (''Do prostego człowieka'', 1929) **
The Dancing Socrates
' (''Sokrates tańczący'', translated by A. Gilloe) **
The Locomotive
' (''Lokomotywa'', translated by
Walter Whipple Walter Whipple (born 1943) is a Teaching Professor Emeritus of Polish in the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages of Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. From 1990 to 1993, Whipple served as the president of the Poland Warsaw ...
) **
The Saturday Night Song
' **
Grass
'
Julian Tuwim in English Translation
(translated by Pacze Moj) **

' ("Abecadło") **

' ("Ptak") **

' ("Ptasie radio") **

' ("Ptasie plotki") **

' ("Okulary") **

' ("Kotek") **

' ("Litery") **

' ("Rzeczka") **

' ("Karta z dziejów ludzkości") **

' **

' ("Burza (albo Miłość)") **

' ("Zima")


Julian Tuwim
at poezja.org
Julian Tuwim: The Quirks and Dark Secrets of a Polish-Jewish Poet
o
Culture.pl
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tuwim, Julian 1894 births 1953 deaths Burials at Powązki Cemetery Polish cabaret performers Jewish cabaret performers Jewish poets Polish theatre directors Jewish Polish writers Writers from Łódź Polish children's writers Polish translators University of Warsaw alumni Golden Laurel of the Polish Academy of Literature Recipients of the Order of the Banner of Work 20th-century translators 20th-century Polish poets Children's poets Polish male poets 20th-century male writers Recipients of the State Award Badge (Poland)