Editing Adam Mickiewicz (section)

===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"/>