Prominent Poles
Cyprian Kamil Norwid (born Cyprian Konstanty Norwid) poet, playwright, painter, sculptor, philosopher.
Born: September 24, 1821, Laskowo-Gluchy (Russian partition of Poland, presently Poland)
Died: May 23, 1883, Paris (France)
Comments (from Pope's John Paul II address of July 1, 2001)."A cordial welcome to you all! Your presence in Rome and in the Vatican joins the celebrations of the 180th anniversary of Cyprian Kamil Norwid, one of Christian Europe's greatest poets and thinkers. We are all deeply indebted to this poet the fourth bard and would like to make the most of this occasion to repay him, at least in part. I have always maintained that Cyprian Norwid should have lain in the crypt of the great poets in Wawel Cathedral. This was not to be, since it proved impossible to find and identify the poet's remains. I therefore sought other ways of making amends for what had not been done for Norwid and what we feel to be our common duty. It is right that at least the urn with earth from the common grave in which the poet was buried should now stand in Wawel, in the place in our country that Norwid deserves, because our country, he wrote, "is the place where we can find rest and death" (C.K. Norwid, Co to jest ojczyzna, in "Pisma wszystkie", VII, PIW 1971-76, 50)
Summary. Norwid's original and non-conformist style was not appreciated in his lifetime. His work was only rediscovered and appreciated during the Young Poland art period of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. He is now considered one of the four most important Polish Romantic poets. Other literary historians, however, consider this an over-simplification, and regard his style to be more characteristic of classicism and parnassianism. He wrote many well-known poems including Fortepian Szopena ("Chopin's Piano"), Moja piosnka [II] ("My Song [II]") and Bema pamięci żałobny-rapsod ("A Funeral Rhapsody in Memory of General Bem"). Norwid led a tragic and often poverty-stricken life. He experienced increasing health problems, unrequited love, harsh critical reviews, and increasing social isolation. He lived abroad most of his life, especially in London and in Paris, where he died.
Early days. Cyprian and his brother Ludwik were early orphaned, their father Jan, a nobleman (coat-of-arms Topor ), died in prison, where he had been sent for not paying debts. They were raised by their grandmother Hilaria Zdziechowska, n�e Sobieska. This led Norwid to claim about his relation to the King Jan III Sobieski. For most of their childhoods, they were educated at Warsaw schools. In 1830 Norwid interrupted his schooling (not having completed the fifth grade) and entered a private school of painting. In later years he would try to fill the gaps in his education by accumulating knowledge in various fields, often very randomly; this chaotic and disorderly knowledge allowed him later to present authoritative views on history and modern European civilisation. His artistic studies of painting and sculpture, were also of a chaotic and random search character. His first foray into the literary sphere occurred in the periodical Piśmiennictwo Krajowe, which published his first poem, "M�j ostatni sonet" ("My Last Sonnet"), in 1840.
Europe In 1842 Norwid went to Dresden, ostensibly to gain instruction in sculpture. He later also visited Munich, Venice, Rome, Naples and Florence. After he settled in Rome in 1844, his fianc�e Kamila broke off their engagement. It was a time for Norwid where he made many social, artistic and political acquaintances. In 1845 he fell in love with Miss Kalergis - one of the most fashionable women in Europe at that time, among others courted by Franz Liszt - and accompanied by her and her friend he went on a trip round Italy, disregarding his financial situation. Later he went to Berlin, where in June 1846 he was arrested and was kept in prison till the end of July. After being forced to leave Prussia in 1846, Norwid went to Brussels. During the European Revolutions of 1848, he stayed in Rome, where he met fellow Polish poets Adam Mickiewicz and Zygmunt Krasiński. During 1849-1852, Norwid resided in Paris, where he met fellow Poles Fryderyk Chopin and Juliusz Słowacki, as well as Russians Ivan Turgenev and Alexander Herzen. Financial hardship, unrequited love, political misunderstandings, and negative critical reception of his works put Norwid in a dire situation at this stage. He lived in poverty and suffered from progressive blindness and deafness, but he still managed to publish his work in the Parisian publication Goniec polski. His financial situation was getting worse; he had to rely on allowances from Zygmunt Krasiński and August Cieszkowski. In 1851 Norwid came into conflict with Krasiński and sent back his letters.
U.S.A. Under the protection of Władysław Zamoyski, Norwid decided to emigrate to the USA in 1852. He arrived aboard the Margaret Evans in New York on February, 1853, and during the spring, obtained a well-paying job at a graphics firm. By autumn, he had learned about the outbreak of the Crimean War. This made him consider a return to Europe, and he wrote Mickiewicz and Herzen, requesting their assistance. Finally in June 1854 he set off on the return journey to Europe on a steamship.
Paris. With his artistic work revived, Norwid was able to publish several works. Norwid took a very keen interest in the outbreak of the January Uprising in 1863. Although he could not participate personally due to his poor health, Norwid hoped to personally influence the outcome of the event. In 1866, the poet finished his work on Vade-Mecum, a vast anthology of verse. However, despite his greatest efforts and formidable contacts, it was unable to be published. It was first published a century after his death. In particular Prince Władysław Czartoryski failed to grant the poet the loan he had promised. In subsequent years, Norwid lived in extreme poverty and suffered from tuberculosis. His cousin, Michał Kleczkowski, later relocated Norwid to the nursing home of St. Casimir's Institute, on the outskirts of Paris. During the last months of his life, Norwid was weak and bed-ridden; he frequently wept and refused to speak with anyone. He died in the morning of May 23, 1883. He was buried in the cemetery in Ivry, but after five years the concession expired and his remains were moved to a common Polish grave at the cemetery in Montmorency; and later - when this fifteen-year concession expired - to a common grave of Hotel Lambert occupants. His poetic debut in the Polish newspapers was met with approbation by the literary critics of that time, however, it soon became clear that his works had little to do with the poetry of the second generation of Romantics and his views did not fit the programs of the political parties of the emigration and also had little in common with the programme of Polish Positivism. On 24 September 2001, 118 years after his death in France, an urn containing soil from the collective grave where Norwid had been buried, from the Paris cemetery of Montmorency, was enshrined in the "Crypts of the Bards" at Wawel Cathedral. There, Norwid's remains were placed next to those of fellow Polish poets, Adam Mickiewicz and Juliusz Slowacki. The cathedral's Zygmunt Bell, heard only when events of great national and religious significance occur, resounded loudly to mark the poet's return to his homeland. During a special Thanksgiving Mass held at the cathedral, the Archbishop of Cracow, a cardinal Franciszek Macharski said that 74 years after the remains of Juliusz Slowacki were brought in, again the doors of the crypt of bards have opened "to receive the great poet, Cyprian Norwid, into Wawel's royal cathedral, for he was the equal of kings".
Works. Some of Norwid's works have been translated into English by the American academic Walter Whipple: The Larva, Mother Tongue (Język ojczysty,) My Song, To Citizen John Brown (Do obywatela Johna Brown), What Did You Do to Athens, Socrates? (Coś ty Atenom zrobił Sokratesie?). The full edition of the Complete Works of Norwid was published only in the years 1971-1976.
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Cyprian Norwid" licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. :
Wikipedia
supplemented by information from other sources:
Article Cyprian Norwid by Prof. Marek Adamiec
Address of John Paul II
Repository of translated poems
English translations of some of his works see:
Constance J. Ostrowski
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