''Anhelli'' is a

prose poem Prose poetry is poetry written in prose form instead of verse form, while preserving poetic qualities such as heightened imagery, parataxis, and emotional effects. Characteristics Prose poetry is written as prose, without the line breaks associ ...

written by Polish Romantic-era poet and dramatist

Juliusz Słowacki Juliusz Słowacki (; french: Jules Slowacki; 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 m ...

in 1837 and published the following year in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

History

The poem was written in the spring of 1837 in an Armenian monastery known as Betcheszban (Resting Place of the Dead) in the mountains of

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

. Słowacki wrote that he created the poem "full of those feelings and thoughts, which were freshly inspired in me by the

Holy Land The Holy Land; Arabic: or is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Ho ...

and a night spent by the

tomb of Jesus The tomb of Jesus refers to any place where it is believed that Jesus was entombed or interred. Church of the Holy Sepulchre The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a church in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. It contains, a ...

". The poem was edited in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

and published in

in 1838 in the Polish Library and Printing Press located at Marais Saint-Germain No 17. The print on the 108 pages of the poem was produced by Bourgogne et Martinet printing house. Słowacki dedicated his work to Stefan Hołyński. The poem conveys a

pessimistic Pessimism is a negative mental attitude in which an undesirable outcome is anticipated from a given situation. Pessimists tend to focus on the negatives of life in general. A common question asked to test for pessimism is " Is the glass half emp ...

vision of the future of Polish emigration and the fight for the country's independence. It directly alludes to

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. A principal figure in Polish ...

's ''Books of the Polish Nation and Polish Pilgrimage'' by employing stylized

biblical The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

prose. It portrays antagonized Polish exiles who are destined for destruction in the realities of

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part o ...

, a place strongly associated with the

martyrology A martyrology is a catalogue or list of martyrs and other saints and beati arranged in the calendar order of their anniversaries or feasts. Local martyrologies record exclusively the custom of a particular Church. Local lists were enriched by na ...

of the

Polish nation Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in Ce ...

. It sends a messianistic message and poses the question whether the whole nation can ever be saved by an individual or an entire generation of emigrants. ''Anhelli'' served as inspiration for the

symphonic poem A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ''T ...

of the same name by

Ludomir Różycki Ludomir Różycki (; 18 September 1883 Warsaw – 1 January 1953 Katowice) was a Polish composer and conductor. He was, with Mieczysław Karłowicz, Karol Szymanowski and Grzegorz Fitelberg, a member of the group of composers known as '' Y ...

composed in 1909. The poem is also the basis of ''Anhelli. The Calling'', the last part of a theatrical triptych ''Gospels of Childhood'' produced by

Wrocław Wrocław (; , . german: Breslau, , also known by other names) is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, roughly ...

-based ZAR Theatre.

Plot

The main plot of the work revolves around the journey through Siberia undertaken by the titular character, a youth named Anhelli, and his guide Shaman, leader of a Siberian tribe. Anhelli was chosen by Shaman from Polish exiles as the redeemer because of his "purity and sinlessness" and he was to be subjected to an initiation by taking part in a journey to see the suffering of the nation. Siberia is portrayed in Słowacki's poem as "white hell" for Polish exiles, a place of execution and spiritual downfall. The main characters wander through various places from deserts and abandoned graveyards through forests to the dark mines of Siberia. Their journey is reminiscent of Dante's journey through hell where the main protagonist, accompanied by

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...

, crosses the circles of hell meeting the damned along the way. Polish exiles are depicted as travelling across a deserted, hostile and hellish country, working hard in mines, suffering in cold dungeons with shackles on their legs and enduring beatings and humiliation. Their children are starving and are subjected to forced

Russification Russification (russian: русификация, rusifikatsiya), or Russianization, is a form of cultural assimilation in which non-Russians, whether involuntarily or voluntarily, give up their culture and language in favor of the Russian cultur ...

. Anhelli and Shaman's journey starts from the House of Exiles and was supposed to end there as well. However, Shaman's death resulting from a fight among the exiles forces Anhelli to embark on another journey to a faraway desert in the north where he dwells in a hut carved out from ice. Upon the death of Ellenai, a

penitent Penance is any act or a set of actions done out of Repentance (theology), repentance for Christian views on sin, sins committed, as well as an alternate name for the Catholic Church, Catholic, Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox s ...

and Anhelli's exiled companion, he is visited by two angels heralding the end of the world as well as his own death. Soon after, he also passes away and is not awakened by the call of the armoured Knight to resurrect and take revenge on the oppressors.

Gallery

File:Witold Pruszkowski - Anhelli (przed śmiercią).jpg, ''Anhelli (Before His Death)'' by

Witold Pruszkowski Witold Pruszkowski (14 January 1846, Bershad - 10 October 1896, Budapest) was a Polish painter and graphic artist in the Symbolist style. Biography He spent his childhood in Odessa and Kiev. The family emigrated to Dieppe in 1860, and he relocat ...

, 1889 File:Jacek Malczewski - Ellenai.jpg, ''Ellenai'' by

Jacek Malczewski Jacek Malczewski (; 15 July 1854 – 8 October 1929) was a Polish symbolist painter who is one of the most revered painters of Poland, associated with the patriotic Young Poland movement following a century of Partitions. He is regarded as the ...

, 1908 File:Farewell Europe!.jpg, ''Farewell to Europe'', by

Aleksander Sochaczewski Aleksander Sochaczewski (; March 3, 1843, Iłów — April 15, 1923) was a Polish painter who participated in the Polish January Uprising against the Russian Empire in 1863. He was then exiled to Siberia. He is known for his paintings of the ...

depicting

Sybirak A sybirak (, plural: ''sybiracy'') is a person resettled to Siberia. Like its Russian counterpart '' sibiryák'' the word can refer to any dweller of Siberia, but it more specifically refers to Poles imprisoned or exiled to Siberia or even to tho ...

s, 1894 File:Malczewski Prisoners.jpg, ''

The Prisoners A prisoner is someone incarcerated in a prison, jail or similar facility. Prisoner(s) or The Prisoner(s) may also refer to: Literature * ''La Prisonnière'' (''The Prisoner''), the fifth volume of Marcel Proust's novel '' In Search of Lost Time ...

'', Jacek Malczewski, 1883

References

{{Reflist 1837 poems Polish poems Works by Juliusz Słowacki Works set in Siberia

History

Plot

Gallery

See also

References