Zanim został wieszczem
BEFORE HE WAS ACCLAIMED THE POLISH NATIONAL "BARD”

Author(s): Tomasz Jędrzejewski
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Cultural history, Studies of Literature, Polish Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Adam Mickiewicz; Polish national “bard”; sonnets; literary salon
Summary/Abstract: The article deals with the concept of Polish national “bardism” (wieszczostwo) Mickiewicz stands for. These days, it is customarily accepted that the name of the author of Ballady i romanse (1822) [Ballads and Romances] is associated with the term – a ‘Polish national “bard”’ (wieszcz). Even today, no matter what types of texts are taken into consideration, whether historical and literary or any other ones, the authors will immediately apply the term as the obvious synonym describing the remarkable Polish Romantic poet – Adam Mickiewicz. The author of this article underlines the fact that this particular practice establishes a clearly defined picture of Mickiewicz’s literary output. Furthermore, the author points out that emphasising the concept of a ‘national “bard”’, which adds extra value to literary work that is already exceptional and deeply rooted in collective consciousness, results in peripheral role of some fields of poetry which do not comply with the poetry model of national “bards”. On the basis of the two cycles of sonnets the author of this paper highlights the dual character of Mickiewicz’s poetry that is constantly orbiting around the literature of social and national nature and that of a literary salon – lighthearted and private.

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