Adam Asnyk (11 September 1838 – 2 August 1897), was a Polish

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

and

dramatist A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between characters and is intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. Ben Jonson coined the term "playwri ...

of the Positivist era.

Life and work

Born in

Kalisz Kalisz () is a city in central Poland, and the second-largest city in the Greater Poland Voivodeship, with 97,905 residents (December 2021). It is the capital city of the Kalisz Region. Situated on the Prosna river in the southeastern part of Gr ...

to a

szlachta The ''szlachta'' (; ; ) were the nobility, noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Depending on the definition, they were either a warrior "caste" or a social ...

family, he was educated to become an heir of his family's estate. As such he received education at the Institute of Agriculture and Forestry in

Marymont Marymont (from French ''Mont de Marie'' - Mary's Hill) is one of the northern neighbourhoods of Warsaw, Poland, administratively a part of the boroughs of Żoliborz (Marymont-Potok) and Bielany (Marymont-Kaskada and Marymont-Ruda). Named after ...

and then the Medical Surgeon School in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

. He continued his studies abroad in Breslau,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

. In 1862, he returned to

Congress Poland Congress Poland or Congress Kingdom of Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It was established w ...

and took part in the

January Uprising The January Uprising was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at putting an end to Russian occupation of part of Poland and regaining independence. It began on 22 January 1863 and continued until the last i ...

against Russian rule. Because of that he had to flee his country and settled in Heidelberg, where in 1866 he received a doctorate of philosophy. Soon afterwards he returned to Poland and settled in the Austrian-held part of the country, initially in

Lwów Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

and then in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

. In 1875, Asnyk married Zofia

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Kaczorowska, with whom he had a son, Włodzimierz, and around that time started his career as a journalist. An editor of a Kraków-based ''Reforma'' daily, in 1884 he was also chosen to the city council of Kraków. Five years later he was elected to the

Diet of Galicia and Lodomeria The Diet of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, and of the Grand Duchy of Cracow was the regional assembly of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, a crown land of the Austrian Empire, and later Austria-Hungary. In the history of the Polish ...

. Around that time he became one of the most prominent men of culture in partitioned Poland. Among his initiatives was the creation of the Society of Popular Schools and bringing the ashes of

Adam Mickiewicz Adam Bernard Mickiewicz (24 December 179826 November 1855) was a Polish poet, dramatist, essayist, publicist, translator and political activist. He is regarded as national poet in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. He also largely influenced Ukra ...

to Poland. He was also among the first members of the Tatra Society. He died on 2 August 1897 in Kraków and was buried at the

Skałka Basilica of Saints Michael the Archangel and Stanislaus the Bishop, also known as Skałka, which means "a small rock" in Polish, is a church situated on a small outcrop in Kraków atop of which a Pauline monastery is also located. The crypt ...

church, a burial place for some of the most distinguished Poles, particularly those who lived in Kraków.

Mastery of verse

Adam Asnyk was a master of verse. Some of his poems, for example ''Ulewa'' (''The Heavy Rain'') or ''Daremne żale'' (''The Vain regrets''), are among the best examples of iambic metre in all of Polish literature. He also used sophisticated strophes, for instance ottava rima. The poem ''Wśród przełomu'' (''At the breakthrough'') is perhaps the first use of

rhyme royal Rhyme royal (or rime royal) is a rhyme, rhyming stanza form that was introduced to English literature, English poetry by Geoffrey Chaucer. The form enjoyed significant success in the fifteenth century and into the sixteenth century. It has had a mo ...

in original Polish poetry. His versification was often discussed by prominent Polish scholars, among others by Maria Dłuska and Lucylla Pszczołowska.See also: Wiktor Jarosław Darasz, ''Mały przewodnik po wierszu polskim'', Kraków 2003 (in Polish).

Books of poetry

* ''Nad głębiami'' (''Over the Depths'') (1883–1894) * ''Poezje'' (''Poetries'') (1869) * ''Poezje'' (''Poetries'') (1872) * ''Poezje'' (''Poetries'') (1880) * ''Poezje'' (''Poetries'') (1894)

References

External links

Polish Literature in English Translation: Adam Asnyk
* *
Adam Asnyk
collected works (Polish) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Asnyk, Adam 1838 births 1897 deaths People from Kalisz People from Kalisz Governorate 19th-century Polish nobility Members of Polish government (January Uprising) Members of the Diet of Galicia and Lodomeria People from Congress Poland Poets from the Russian Empire Poets from Austria-Hungary Polish male poets 19th-century Polish dramatists and playwrights 19th-century Polish poets University of Breslau alumni University of Paris alumni Heidelberg University alumni Congress Poland expatriates in France Congress Poland expatriates in Germany Polish positivists