Born: September 11, 1838 in Kalisz (Prussian partition of Poland, presently Poland)
Died: August 2, 1897 in Cracow (Austrian partition of Poland, presently Poland)
Early days. He was born to a noble family. His father, Kazimierz, was a former participant of November 1830 Uprising who, upon his return to Kalisz from the deportation by the Russians, became a successful merchant; his mother was Konstancja nee Zagorowska. He was educated for an heir of his family's estate. As such he received education at the Institute of Agriculture and Forestry in Marymont and then (1857-59) the Medical Surgeon School in Warsaw. He continued his studies abroad in Breslau (1859-60), Paris (1861) and Heidelberg (1861-62). In 1862 he returned to Congress Poland and took part in the January Uprising against Russia as a member of the so-called September National Government. Because of that he had to flee the country and settled in Heidelberg, where in 1866 he received a doctorate of philosophy.
Political and social activity; travels. Soon afterwards he returned to Poland and settled in the Austrian-held part of the country, initially in Lemberg (Polish Lwow; presently Lviv, Ukraine) and then in 1870 in Cracow. In 1875 he married Zofia nee Kaczorowska. They had a son Wlodzimierz. At that time he started his career as a journalist. From 1882 till 1895 he was an editor of a Cracow-based Reforma daily, in 1884 he was also chosen to the city council of Cracow. In 1889 he was elected to the Galician Sejm. 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 in 1890 the ashes of Adam Mickiewicz to Poland. He was also among the first members of the Tatra Society. In 1888 he traveled to Sicily, Malta, and North Africa. In 1894 he went to Ceylon and India. After his death Asnyk was buried at the Church on the Rock (Kosciol na Skalce) in Cracow.
Poetry. He started his literary activities in 1864-65. His poems were published in collections called Poezje (1869, 1872, 1880, 1894). At the beginning his poems were rebellious. From 1870 on Asnyk started searching for his own attitude. The most representative of his poetry is a cycle of 30 sonnets Nad głębiami (Above the depths, 1883-1894). Thanks to it he was called "a poet-philosopher". His philosophy recognized the advances of contemporary natural sciences but unlike the positivists he did not believe in empirical knowledge of reality. His poems always include a patriotic tone, contrary to the conservative program of reconciliation with the occupying powers.
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Adam Asnyk" licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. :
Wikipedia
supplemented by information from Polish version of Wikipedia:
Wikipedia in Polish with links to Asnyk's poems
English translations of some of his works see:
Constance J. Ostrowski
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