Editing Adam Mickiewicz (section)

==Life==

===Early years===
[[File:Zaosie home of Mickiwiecz.jpg|thumb|[[Zavosse|Zaosie]] manor, possible birthplace]]
[[File:Наваградскія краявіды ў чэрвені 2020 (34).jpg|thumb|[[Transfiguration Church, Navahrudak|Church of the Transfiguration of Jesus]], in [[Navahrudak]], where Mickiewicz was baptized]]

Adam Mickiewicz was born on 24 December 1798, either at his paternal uncle's estate in [[Zavosse|Zaosie]] (now Zavosse) near [[Navahrudak]] (in [[Polish language|Polish]], ''Nowogródek'') or in Navahrudak itself{{efn|[[Czesław Miłosz]] and [[Kazimierz Wyka]] each note that Adam Mickiewicz's exact birthplace cannot be ascertained due to conflicting records and missing documentation.<ref name="cze208"/><ref name="psb694"/>}} in what was then part of the [[Russian Empire]] and is now Belarus. The region was on the periphery of [[Lithuania proper]] and had been part of the [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]] until the [[Third Partition of Poland|Third Partition]] of the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] (1795).<ref name=venc/><ref name="Yad Vashem Studies"/> Its upper class, including Mickiewicz's family, were either [[Polish people|Polish]] or [[polonization|Polonized]].<ref name=venc/> The poet's father, Mikołaj Mickiewicz, a lawyer, was a member of the Polish<ref name="vytautas"/> [[szlachta|nobility]] (''szlachta'')<ref name="cze208"/> and bore the hereditary [[Poraj coat of arms|Poraj coat-of-arms]];<ref name="Koropeckyj2008"/> Adam's mother was Barbara Mickiewicz, ''née'' Majewska. Adam was the second-born son in the family.<ref name="psb694"/>

[[File:Dom A.Mickiewicza w Nowogródku.jpg|thumb|Mickiewicz's house, [[Navahrudak]]]]
Mickiewicz spent his childhood in Navahrudak,<ref name="cze208"/><ref name="psb694"/> initially taught by his mother and private tutors. From 1807 to 1815 he attended a [[Dominican Order|Dominican]] school following a curriculum that had been designed by the now-defunct Polish [[Commission of National Education]], which had been the world's first [[ministry of education]].<ref name="cze208"/><ref name="psb694"/><ref name="Wulff1992"/> He was a mediocre student, although active in games, theatricals, and the like.<ref name="cze208"/>

In September 1815, Mickiewicz enrolled at the [[Vilnius University|Imperial University of Vilnius]], studying to be a teacher.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Adam Mickiewicz - informacje o autorze, biografia|url=https://lekcjapolskiego.pl/analiza-i-interpretacja/adam-mickiewicz,autor26/|access-date=13 April 2021|website=lekcjapolskiego.pl|archive-date=13 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210413184829/https://lekcjapolskiego.pl/analiza-i-interpretacja/adam-mickiewicz,autor26/|url-status=live}}</ref> After graduating, under the terms of his government scholarship, he taught secondary school at [[Kaunas]] from 1819 to 1823.<ref name="psb694"/>

In 1818, in the Polish-language ''{{Interlanguage link|Tygodnik Wileński|pl}}'' (Wilno Weekly), he published his first poem, ''{{ill|Zima miejska|pl|Zima miejska}}'' (''City Winter'').<ref name="psb695" /> The next few years would see a maturing of his style from [[Sentimentalism (literature)|sentimentalism]]/[[neoclassicism]] to [[romanticism]], first in his poetry anthologies published in [[Vilnius]] in 1822 and 1823; these anthologies included the poem ''[[Grażyna (poem)|Grażyna]]'' and the first-published parts (II and IV) of his major work, ''[[Dziady (poem)|Dziady]]'' (''Forefathers' Eve'').<ref name="psb695"/> By 1820 he had already finished another major romantic poem, ''[[Oda do młodości]]'' (''Ode to Youth''), but it was considered to be too patriotic and revolutionary for publication and would not appear officially for many years.<ref name="psb695"/>

About the summer of 1820, Mickiewicz met the love of his life, {{Interlanguage link|Maryla Wereszczakówna|pl}}. They were unable to marry due to his family's poverty and relatively low social status; in addition, she was already engaged to Count {{Interlanguage link|Wawrzyniec Puttkamer|pl}}, whom she would marry in 1821.<ref name="psb695"/><ref name="cze210"/>

===Imprisonment and exile===
[[File:Zinaida Volkonskaya's salon.jpeg|thumb|250px|Princess [[Zinaida Volkonskaya]]'s Moscow [[salon (gathering)|salon]], frequented by Mickiewicz]]
In 1817, while still a student, Mickiewicz, [[Tomasz Zan]] and other friends had created a secret organization, the [[Philomaths]].<ref name="psb695"/> The group focused on self-education but had ties to a more radical, clearly pro-Polish-independence student group, the [[Filaret Association]].<ref name="psb695"/> An investigation of secret student organizations by [[Nikolay Novosiltsev]], begun in early 1823, led to the arrests of a number of students and ex-student activists including Mickiewicz, who was taken into custody and imprisoned at [[Basilian Monastery in Vilnius|Vilnius' Basilian Monastery]] in late 1823 or early 1824 (sources disagree as to the date).<ref name="psb695"/> After investigation into his political activities, specifically his membership in the Philomaths, in 1824 Mickiewicz was banished to central Russia.<ref name="psb695"/> Within a few hours of receiving the decree on 22 October 1824, he penned a poem into an album belonging to {{ill|Salomea Słowacka|lt=Salomea Bécu|pl|Salomea Słowacka}}, the mother of [[Juliusz Słowacki]].<ref name="mickiewitch"/> (In 1975 this poem was set to music in Polish and Russian by Soviet composer [[David Tukhmanov]].)<ref name="popsa"/> Mickiewicz crossed the border into Russia about 11 November 1824, arriving in [[Saint Petersburg]] later that month.<ref name="psb695"/> He would spend most of the next five years in Saint Petersburg and Moscow, except for a notable 1824 to 1825 excursion to [[Odessa]], then on to [[Crimea]].<ref name="cze218"/> That visit, from February to November 1825, inspired a notable collection of [[sonnet]]s (some love sonnets, and a series known as ''[[Crimean Sonnets]]'', published a year later).<ref name="psb695"/><ref name="cze218"/><ref name="psb696"/>

Mickiewicz was welcomed into the leading literary circles of Saint Petersburg and Moscow, where he became a great favourite for his agreeable manners and an extraordinary talent for poetic improvisation.<ref name="psb696"/> The year 1828 saw the publication of his poem ''[[Konrad Wallenrod]]''.<ref name="psb696"/> Novosiltsev, who recognized its patriotic and subversive message, which had been missed by the Moscow censors, unsuccessfully attempted to sabotage its publication and to damage Mickiewicz's reputation.<ref name="Koropeckyj2008"/><ref name="psb696"/>

In Moscow, Mickiewicz met the Polish journalist and novelist [[Henryk Rzewuski]] and the Polish composer and piano virtuoso [[Maria Szymanowska]], whose daughter, [[Celina Szymanowska]], Mickiewicz would later marry in Paris, France. He also befriended the great Russian poet [[Alexander Pushkin]]<ref name="psb696"/> and [[Decembrist]] leaders including [[Kondraty Ryleyev]].<ref name="cze218"/> It was thanks to his friendships with many influential individuals that he was eventually able to obtain a passport and permission to leave Russia for Western Europe.<ref name="psb696"/>

===European travels===
[[File:Adam Mickiewicz.PNG|thumb|left|200px|[[Portrait of Adam Mickiewicz on the Ayu-Dag Cliff|''Adam Mickiewicz on the Ayu-Dag'']], by [[Walenty Wańkowicz]], 1828]]
After serving five years of exile to Russia, Mickiewicz received permission to go abroad in 1829. On 1 June that year, he arrived in [[Weimar]] in Germany.<ref name="psb696" /> By 6 June he was in [[Berlin]], where he attended lectures by the philosopher [[G.W.F. Hegel|Hegel]].<ref name="psb696"/> In February 1830 he visited [[Prague]], later returning to Weimar, where he received a cordial reception from the writer and polymath [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|Goethe]].<ref name="psb696"/>

He then continued on through Germany all the way to Italy, which he entered via the [[Alps]]' [[Splügen Pass]].<ref name="psb696"/> Accompanied by an old friend, the poet [[Antoni Edward Odyniec]], he visited [[Milan]], [[Venice]], [[Florence]] and [[Rome]].<ref name="psb696"/><ref name="psb697"/> In August that same year (1830) he went to [[Geneva]], where he met fellow [[Three Bards|Polish Bard]] [[Zygmunt Krasiński]].<ref name="psb697"/> During these travels he had a brief romance with {{Interlanguage link|Henrietta Ewa Ankwiczówna|pl}}, but class differences again prevented his marrying his new love.<ref name="psb697"/>

Finally about October 1830 he took up residence in Rome, which he declared "the most amiable of foreign cities."<ref name="psb697"/> Soon after, he learned about the outbreak of the [[November Uprising|November 1830 Uprising]] in Poland, but he would not leave Rome until the spring of 1831.<ref name="psb697"/>

On 19 April 1831 Mickiewicz departed Rome, traveling to Geneva and Paris and later, on a false passport, to Germany, via [[Dresden]] and [[Leipzig]] arriving about 13 August in [[Poznań]] (German name: Posen), then part of the [[Kingdom of Prussia]].<ref name="psb697"/> It is possible that during these travels he carried communications from the Italian [[Carbonari]] to the French underground, and delivered documents or money for the Polish insurgents from the Polish community in Paris, but reliable information on his activities at the time is scarce.<ref name="psb697"/><ref name="cze222"/> Ultimately he never crossed into [[Russian Poland]], where the Uprising was mainly happening; he stayed in [[German Poland]] (historically known to Poles as ''[[Greater Poland|Wielkopolska]]'', or Greater Poland), where he was well received by members of the local Polish nobility.<ref name="psb697"/> He had a brief liaison with {{ill|Konstancja Łubieńska|pl|Konstancja Łubieńska}} at her family estate<ref name="psb697"/> in [[Śmiełów]]. Starting in March 1832, Mickiewicz stayed several months in Dresden, in [[Saxony]],<ref name="psb697"/><ref name="psb698"/> where he wrote the third part of his poem ''Dziady''.<ref name="psb698"/>

===Paris émigré===
[[File:David d'Angers - Adam Mickiewicz.jpg|thumb|left|170px|Mickiewicz, 1835]]
On 31 July 1832, Mickiewicz arrived in Paris, accompanied by a close friend and fellow ex-Philomath, the future geologist and Chilean educator [[Ignacy Domeyko]].<ref name="psb698"/> In Paris, he became active in [[Great Emigration|many Polish émigré groups]] and published articles in ''{{Interlanguage link|Pielgrzym Polski|pl}}'' (''The Polish Pilgrim'').<ref name="psb698"/> The fall of 1832 saw the publication, in Paris, of the third part of his ''Dziady'' (smuggled into partitioned Poland), as well as of ''{{Interlanguage link|The Books of the Polish People and of the Polish Pilgrimage|pl|Księgi narodu polskiego i pielgrzymstwa polskiego}}'', which Mickiewicz self-published.<ref name="psb698"/>  During this time, he made acquaintances with  his compatriot the composer [[Frederic Chopin]] who would be one of Mickiewicz's closest friends in Paris.  In 1834 he published another masterpiece, his [[epic poem]] ''[[Pan Tadeusz]]''.<ref name="psb699"/>

''Pan Tadeusz'', his longest poetic work, marked the end of his most productive literary period.<ref name="psb699"/><ref name="cze227"/> Mickiewicz would create further notable works, such as ''{{Interlanguage link|Lausanne Lyrics|pl|Liryki lozańskie}}'', 1839–40) and ''[[Zdania i uwagi]]'' (''Thoughts and Remarks'', 1834–40), but neither would achieve the fame of his earlier works.<ref name="psb699"/> His relative literary silence, beginning in the mid-1830s, has been variously interpreted:  he may have lost his talent; he may have chosen to focus on teaching and on political writing and organizing.<ref name="cze229"/>

On 22 July 1834, in Paris, he married Celina Szymanowska, daughter of composer and concert pianist [[Maria Agata Szymanowska]].<ref name="psb699"/> They would have six children (two daughters, {{ill|Maria Gorecka|lt=Maria|pl|Maria Gorecka}} and Helena; and four sons, {{ill|Władysław Mickiewicz|pl|Władysław Mickiewicz|lt=Władysław}}, Aleksander, Jan and Józef).<ref name="psb699"/> Celina later became mentally ill, possibly with a [[major depressive disorder]].<ref name="psb699"/> In December 1838, marital problems caused Mickiewicz to attempt suicide.<ref name="Twórczość">{{cite book|title=Twórczość|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SONKAAAAYAAJ|year=1998|publisher=RSW "Prasa-Książa-Ruch"|page=80}}</ref> Celina would die on 5 March 1855.<ref name="psb699"/>

Mickiewicz and his family lived in relative poverty, their major source of income being occasional publication of his work – not a very profitable endeavor.<ref name="psb700"/> They received support from friends and patrons, but not enough to substantially change their situation.<ref name="psb700"/> Despite spending most of his remaining years in France, Mickiewicz would never receive French citizenship, nor any support from the French government.<ref name="psb700"/> By the late 1830s he was less active as a writer, and also less visible on the Polish émigré political scene.<ref name="psb699"/>
[[File:Adam Mickiewicz by Jan Mieczkowski.jpg|thumb|150px|Mickiewicz]]
In 1838 Mickiewicz became professor of [[Latin literature]] at the [[University of Lausanne|Lausanne Academy]], in Switzerland.<ref name="psb700"/> [[Mickiewicz lectures|His lectures]] were well received, and in 1840 he was appointed to the newly established chair of [[Slavic languages]] and literatures at the [[Collège de France]].<ref name="psb700"/><ref name="cze230"/> Leaving Lausanne, he was made an honorary Lausanne Academy professor.<ref name="psb700"/>

Mickiewicz would, however, hold the Collège de France post for little more than three years, his last lecture being delivered on 28 May 1844.<ref name="psb700"/> His lectures were popular, drawing many listeners in addition to enrolled students, and receiving reviews in the press.<ref name="psb700"/> Some would be remembered much later; his sixteenth lecture, on Slavic theater, "was to become a kind of gospel for Polish theater directors of the twentieth century."<ref name="cze223"/>

[[File:Piotr Stachiewicz - Adam Mickiewicz modlący się przed obrazem Matki Boskiej Ostrobramskiej.jpg|thumb|left|Adam Mickiewicz praying in front of [[Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn]], by [[Piotr Stachiewicz]]]]

Over the years he became increasingly possessed by religious [[mysticism]] as he fell under the influence of the Polish philosopher [[Andrzej Towiański]], whom he met in 1841.<ref name="psb700"/><ref name="psb701"/> His lectures became a medley of religion and politics, punctuated by controversial attacks on the [[Catholic Church]], and thus brought him under censure by the French government.<ref name="psb700"/><ref name="psb701"/> The messianic element conflicted with Roman Catholic teachings, and some of his works were placed on the [[Index Librorum Prohibitorum|Church's list of prohibited books]], though both Mickiewicz and Towiański regularly attended Catholic mass and encouraged their followers to do so.<ref name="psb701"/><ref name="Alvis2005"/>

In 1846 Mickiewicz severed his ties with Towiański, following the rise of revolutionary sentiment in Europe, manifested in events such as the [[Kraków Uprising]] of February 1846.<ref name="psb702"/> Mickiewicz criticized Towiański's passivity and returned to the traditional Catholic Church.<ref name="psb702"/> In 1847 Mickiewicz befriended American journalist, critic and women's-rights advocate [[Margaret Fuller]].<ref name="psb703"/> In March 1848 he was part of a Polish delegation received in audience by [[Pope Pius IX]], whom he asked to support the enslaved nations and the [[French Revolution of 1848]].<ref name="psb702"/> Soon after, in April 1848, he organized a military unit, the [[Mickiewicz Legion]], to support the insurgents, hoping to liberate the Polish and other Slavic lands.<ref name="cze230"/><ref name="psb702"/> The unit never became large enough to be more than symbolic, and in the fall of 1848 Mickiewicz returned to Paris and became more active again on the political scene.<ref name="psb703"/>

In December 1848 he was offered a post at the [[Jagiellonian University]] in Austrian-ruled [[Kraków]], but the offer was soon withdrawn after pressure from Austrian authorities.<ref name="psb703"/> In the winter of 1848–49, Polish composer [[Frédéric Chopin]], in the final months of his own life, visited his ailing compatriot  soothed the poet's nerves with his piano music.<ref name="jachimecki"/> Over a dozen years earlier, Chopin had set two of Mickiewicz's poems to music (see [[Polish songs by Frédéric Chopin]]).<ref name="jachimecki2"/>

===Final years===
[[File:Adam Mickiewicz (611843) (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|Late in life]]
In the winter of 1849 Mickiewicz founded a French-language newspaper, ''[[La Tribune des Peuples]]'' (''The Peoples' Tribune''), supported by a wealthy Polish émigré activist, {{Interlanguage link|Count Xavier Branicki{{!}}Ksawery Branicki|pl|Ksawery Branicki (z Montrésor)}}.<ref name="psb703"/> Mickiewicz wrote over 70 articles for the ''Tribune'' during its short existence:  it came out between 15 March and 10 November 1849, when the authorities shut it down.<ref name="psb703"/><ref name="cze231"/> His articles supported democracy and socialism and many ideals of the [[French Revolution]] and of the [[Napoleonic era]], though he held few illusions regarding the idealism of the [[House of Bonaparte]].<ref name="psb703"/> He supported the restoration of the [[Second French Empire|French Empire]] in 1851.<ref name="psb703"/> In April 1852 he lost his post at the Collège de France, which he had been allowed to keep up to that point (though without the right to lecture).<ref name="psb700"/><ref name="psb703"/> On 31 October 1852 he was hired as a librarian at the [[Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal]].<ref name="psb703"/><ref name="cze231"/> There he was visited by another Polish poet, [[Cyprian Norwid]], who wrote of the meeting in his work ''{{ill|Czarne kwiaty. Białe kwiaty|pl|Czarne kwiaty. Białe kwiaty}}''; and there Mickiewicz's wife Celina died.<ref name="psb703"/>

[[File:İstanbul 6137.jpg|thumb|right|Mickiewicz's temporary grave under his [[Istanbul]] apartment, now an [[Adam Mickiewicz Museum, Istanbul|Adam Mickiewicz Museum]]]]

Mickiewicz welcomed the [[Crimean War]] of 1853–1856, which he hoped would lead to a new European order including a restored independent Poland.<ref name="psb703"/> His last composition, a [[Latin language|Latin]] [[ode]] ''Ad Napolionem III Caesarem Augustum Ode in Bomersundum captum'', honored [[Napoleon III]] and celebrated the British-French victory over Russia at the [[Battle of Bomarsund]]<ref name="psb703"/> in [[Åland]] in August 1854. [[Hôtel Lambert#The political salon|Polish émigrés associated with the Hôtel Lambert]] persuaded him to become active again in politics.<ref name="psb703"/><ref name="psb704"/> Soon after the Crimean War broke out (October 1853), the French government entrusted him with a diplomatic mission.<ref name="psb704"/> He left Paris on 11 September 1855, arriving in [[Constantinople]], in the [[Ottoman Empire]], on 22 September.<ref name="psb704"/> There, working with [[Michał Czajkowski]] (Sadyk Pasha), he began organizing Polish forces to fight under Ottoman command against Russia.<ref name="cze231"/><ref name="psb704"/> With his friend [[Armand Lévy (activist)|Armand Lévy]] he also set about organizing a Jewish legion.<ref name="cze231"/><ref name="psb704"/> He returned ill from a trip to a military camp to his apartment on Yenişehir Street in the [[Beyoğlu|Pera]] (now Beyoğlu) district of Constantinople and died on 26 November 1855.<ref name="psb704"/><ref name="rzeczypospolitej"/> Though [[Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński]] and others have speculated that political enemies might have poisoned Mickiewicz, there is no proof of this, and he probably contracted [[cholera]], which claimed other lives there at the time.<ref name="cze231"/><ref name="psb704"/><ref name="Encyclopedia of the romantic era, 1760-1850, Volume 2"/>

Mickiewicz's remains were transported to France, boarding ship on 31 December 1855, and were buried at [[Montmorency, Val-d'Oise]], on 21 January 1861.<ref name="psb704"/> In 1890 they were disinterred, moved to [[Austrian Poland]], and on 4 July entombed in the {{ill|Crypts of the Bards|pl|Krypta Wieszczów Narodowych na Wawelu}} of Kraków's [[Wawel Cathedral]], a place of final repose for a number of persons important to Poland's political and cultural history.<ref name="psb704"/>