Jan Kasprowicz (12 December 1860 – 1 August 1926) 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 ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as Art criticism, art, Literary criticism, literature, Music journalism, music, Film criticism, cinema, Theater criticism, theater, Fas ...

and

translator 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 ''trans ...

; a foremost representative of Young Poland.

Biography

Kasprowicz was born in the village of Szymborze (now part of

Inowrocław Inowrocław (; , ) is a city in central Poland with a total population of 68,101 (as of December 2022). It is situated in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship. It is one of the largest and most historically significant cities within the historic re ...

) within the

Province of Posen The Province of Posen (; ) was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1848 to 1920, occupying most of the historical Greater Poland. The province was established following the Greater Poland Uprising (1848), Poznań Uprisi ...

, to an illiterate

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasan ...

family. From 1870 he studied in

Prussian Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, the House of Hohenzoll ...

'' gymnasia'' in Inowrazlaw (Inowrocław), Posen (

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

), Oppeln (

Opole Opole (; ; ; ) is a city located in southern Poland on the Oder River and the historical capital of Upper Silesia. With a population of approximately 127,387 as of the 2021 census, it is the capital of Opole Voivodeship (province) and the seat of ...

), Ratibor (

Racibórz Racibórz (, , , ) is a city in Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland. It is the administrative seat of Racibórz County. With Opole, Racibórz is one of the historic capitals of Upper Silesia, being the residence of the Duchy of Racibórz, Du ...

), and in 1884 graduated from Saint Mary Magdalene Gymnasium in Poznań. He studied philosophy and literature in German universities in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

and Breslau. During his studies he began having articles and poetry published, working with various Polish magazines. For his activities in

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

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 ( 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 ...

, 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 A treatise is a Formality, formal and systematic written discourse on some subject concerned with investigating or exposing the main principles of the subject and its conclusions."mwod:treatise, Treatise." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Acc ...

, 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 studies is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across language, linguistic, national, geographic, and discipline, disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role ...

, a department founded for him to run. The largely self-taught Kasprowicz mastered the

classical Latin Classical Latin is the form of Literary Latin recognized as a Literary language, literary standard language, standard by writers of the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire. It formed parallel to Vulgar Latin around 75 BC out of Old Latin ...

and

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

languages, as well as French and English. His works included critically acclaimed translations of great literary works: * Greek (

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; ; /524 – /455 BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek tragedy, tragedian often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is large ...

Euripides Euripides () was a Greek tragedy, tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to ...

) * English (

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

, Marlowe,

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...

, Shelley,

Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tub ...

Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

Swinburne Algernon Charles Swinburne (5 April 1837 – 10 April 1909) was an English poet, playwright, novelist and critic. He wrote many plays – all tragedies – and collections of poetry such as '' Poems and Ballads'', and contributed to the Eleve ...

Wilde Wilde is a surname. Notable people with the name include: In arts and entertainment In film, television, and theatre * Andrew Wilde (actor), English actor * Barbie Wilde (born 1960), Canadian actress * Brian Wilde (1927–2008), British actor * ...

, among others) * German (

Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, philosopher and historian. Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright. He was born i ...

) * French ( Vauvenargues, Bertrand, Rimbaud, Maeterlinck) * Italian ( d'Annunzio) * Norwegian (

Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...

) * Dutch ( Heijermans) Nature gifted Kasprowicz with good health and a strong constitution.

Stanisław Lem Stanisław Herman Lem (; 12 September 1921 – 27 March 2006) was a Polish writer. He was the author of many novels, short stories, and essays on various subjects, including philosophy, futurology, and literary criticism. Many of his science fi ...

wrote of him: "He had in his bearing the originality of a

gypsy {{Infobox ethnic group , group = Romani people , image = , image_caption = , flag = Roma flag.svg , flag_caption = Romani flag created in 1933 and accepted at the 1971 World Romani Congress , po ...

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 (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

while on one of his artistic travels. She was the daughter of the

Tsarist Tsarist autocracy (), also called Tsarism, was an autocracy, a form of absolute monarchy in the Grand Duchy of Moscow and its successor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire. In it, the Tsar possessed in principle authority and ...

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 Poronin , is a village in southern Poland; from 1999 it formed part of Tatra County of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship (it was previously in Nowy Sącz Voivodeship from 1975 to 1998). It lies approximately north-east of Zakopane and south of the r ...

and

Zakopane Zakopane (Gorals#Language, Podhale Goral: ''Zokopane'') is a town in the 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 ...

, where he died on 1 August 1926.

Reception

Kasprowicz's work has been compared to

Arthur Rimbaud Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he s ...

and

Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 1792 – 8 July 1822) was an English writer who is considered one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame durin ...

. In his Diary,

Witold Gombrowicz Witold Marian Gombrowicz (August 4, 1904 – July 24, 1969) was a Polish writer and playwright. His works are characterised by deep psychological analysis, a certain sense of paradox and absurd, anti-nationalism, anti-nationalist flavor. In 1937, ...

characterized Kasprowicz as follows: "wholemeal bread, a pigeon's soul, a sincere singer... But also: a peasant-traitor, a false peasant, an unnatural nature, a manufactured simplicity. Kasprowicz, having left the peasant and transformed himself into an intellectual, nevertheless wanted to remain a peasant - as an intellectual".

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'' (''Hail Holy Queen'') * (1908) ''Ballada o słoneczniku'' (''The Ballad About Sunflower'') * (1911) ''Chwile'' (''Moments'') * (1916) ''Księga ubogich'' (The Book of The Poor) * (1921) ''Hymny'' (''The Hymnal'')

References

External links

*
Brief biography

Jan Kasprowicz
poems in poezja.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Kasprowicz, Jan 1860 births 1926 deaths People from Inowrocław 19th-century Polish poets 19th-century Polish dramatists and playwrights Polish male dramatists and playwrights Polish literary critics Polish translators Writers from the Province of Posen Leipzig University alumni University of Breslau alumni Polish male poets 20th-century Polish poets 20th-century Polish dramatists and playwrights Member of the Tomasz Zan Society

Biography

Reception

Works

References

Further reading

External links