Prominent Poles
Leopold Staff poet, translator, essayist, playwright, one of the greatest artists of European modernism
Born: November 14, 1878, Lwow, Austro-Hungarian partition of Poland
Died: May 31, 1957, Skarzysko-Kamienna, Poland
Summary. Representative of classicism and symbolism in the poetry of Young Poland, an author strong influenced by the ideas of the Franciscan order, and by the paradoxes of Christianity. S In the early XX century Staff became probably the most famous and influential Polish poet. He was highly influential in the literary life of Julian Tuwim, one of Poland's most renowned poets. Staff could be called a poet of three epochs: Young Poland, the interwar period and the contemporary period.
Early days. His father was a confectioner in Lwow. Staff graduated from Lwow's V Gimnazjum Klasyczne (Fifth Classical Highschool) . During the years 1897-1901 he studied at the Lwow's University first Law and then Philosophy and Romance languages. In 1898-1899 he worked in the Lwow's edition of the academic periodical Mlodosc published in Cracow. From 1900 on for several years he belonged to a group of poets Planetnicy. During 1902-1903 he made several trips to Italy and to France and spent one year in Paris. Staff collaborated with the periodicals Lamus and Museion.
Young Poland period. His first poetry collection, entitled Dreams of Power, was published in 1901 where he referred to Nietzsche's philosophy. In later work he changed his point of view of a human being. The poem Deszcz jesienny (Autumn rain) represents this stage of Staff's poetry. During WWI he lived in Kharkov, Russian Empire (presently Kharkiv, Ukraine) and in 1918 he moved to Warsaw.
Interwar period. During 1920�1921 he co-edited Nowy Przegląd Literatury i Sztuki. In the period 1924-1931 he was the president of the Society of Polish Writers and Journalists and from 1934 till 1939 - the vice-president of Polish Academy of Literature. During this period Staff wanted to be read by everyone and thus started to apotheosize the everyday life. He continued however to connect to classicism (like in Wysokie drzewa). He published in periodicals Maski, Tygodnik Ilustrowany, Kurier Warszawski, Gazeta Polska. During WWII he lived in Warsaw and lectured at the Warsaw�s underground University.
Postwar Poland period. After the war he moved to Cracow and then, in 1949, to Warsaw. In 1950s Staff became the main guru for Skamander a Polish group of experimental poets. Some of his poetry includes The Bridge, Foundations, and Three Towns. Last volumes of his poetry are Martwa pogoda (Dead weather), Wiklina (Osier)- considered by some to be his best collection and Dziewiec Muz (Nine Muses). He died in Warsaw and is buried at Warsaw�s Powazki cemetery.
Staff as playwright. Staff wrote also dramas: Skarb (1904) Godiwa (1906), Igrzysko (1909), Wawrzyny (1912) To samo (1912), Poludnica (1920). Staff was one of the leading Polish translators. He translated Latin, French, Italian, German and English works. Among others Latin poems of Kochanowski, French works by Krasinski, some antique poets Epicur, Democritus, Heraclitus), works of St. Francis form Assisi, poems of Jacques de Voragine, essays of Leonardo da Vinci, poems of Michelangelo and also works of Diderot, Goethe, Nietzsche, Thomas Mann, d'Annunzio, Delleda, Rolland, Hamsun, Lagerlof and others.
Awards, honors. 1925 Poeta Laureatus; 1929 Lwow's literary prize, 1931 Lodz's literary prize; 1938 Warsaw's literary prize; 1947 Cracow's district literary prize; 1948 Pen Club prize for translations; 1951 State literary prize; Doctorate honoris causa: 1939 Warsaw University; 1949 Jagiellonian University. A container ship belonging to China-Polish company named after Leopold Staff
This article uses, among others, material from the Wikipedia article "Leopold Staff" licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. :
Wikipedia (in Polish)
Wikipedia
Supplemented by the material from other sources
culture.pl- in Polish (Bartlomiej Szleszynski). Includes a list of Staff's works
The container ship "Leopold Staff"- photo
Some of his works online (in Polish):
Selected poems
b> English translations of some of his works:
Constance J. Ostrowski
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Prominent Poles
