Michał Bałucki, pseudonym ''Elpidon'' (September 29, 1837 in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 159 ...

– October 17, 1901 in Kraków), was a Polish playwright and poet.

Biography

He studied at Saint's Ann gymnasium in Cracow, and then at the Jagiellonian University. He was an active member of a youth organization that wanted to help Poles fighting the

tsarist Tsarist autocracy (russian: царское самодержавие, transcr. ''tsarskoye samoderzhaviye''), also called Tsarism, was a form of autocracy (later absolute monarchy) specific to the Grand Duchy of Moscow and its successor states th ...

regime In politics, a regime (also "régime") is the form of government or the set of rules, cultural or social norms, etc. that regulate the operation of a government or institution and its interactions with society. According to Yale professor Juan J ...

in Russian occupied Poland, but he did not fight in the

January Uprising The January Uprising ( pl, powstanie styczniowe; lt, 1863 metų sukilimas; ua, Січневе повстання; russian: Польское восстание; ) was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at ...

. He was sentenced to prison for conspiracy after being arrested at the end of 1863. He debuted in 1861 with poems based on folklore motifs. In his poems, he attacked Galician aristocrats and the middle class that looked up to them. At the end of his life he suffered from neurosis and depression and, after a virulently critical article written by

Lucjan Rydel Lucjan Rydel, also known as Lucjan Antoni Feliks Rydel (17 May 1870 in Kraków – 8 April 1918 in Bronowice Małe), was a Polish playwright and poet from the Young Poland movement. Life Rydel was the son of Lucjan Rydel, a surgeon, ophthalmolog ...

, he committed suicide in

Błonia Park Błonia Park is a vast meadow with an area of 48 hectares directly adja