Editing Czesław Miłosz (section)

===Origins and early life===
Czesław Miłosz was born on 30 June 1911, in the village of [[Šeteniai]] ({{langx|pl|Szetejnie}}), [[Kovno Governorate]], [[Russian Empire]] (now [[Kėdainiai district municipality|Kėdainiai district]], [[Kaunas County]], [[Lithuania]]). He was the son of Aleksander Miłosz (1883–1959), a Polish civil engineer, and his wife, Weronika (née Kunat; 1887–1945).<ref>{{Cite book|title=Milosz: A Biography|last=Franaszek, Andrzej|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2017|isbn=9780674977419|location=Cambridge|oclc=982122195|quote=Birth and death of Miłosz's parents are noted on pp. 36, 38, 242, 243.}}</ref>

Miłosz was born into a prominent family. On his mother's side, his grandfather was Zygmunt Kunat, a descendant of a Polish family that traced its lineage to the 13th century and owned an estate in [[Krasnogruda]] (in present-day Poland). Having studied agriculture in Warsaw, Zygmunt settled in Šeteniai after marrying Miłosz's grandmother, Jozefa, a descendant of the noble Syruć family, which was of Lithuanian origin. One of her ancestors, {{ill|Szymon Syruć|pl|Szymon Syruć}}, had been personal secretary to [[Stanisław Leszczyński|Stanisław I]], King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Milosz: A Biography|last=Franaszek, Andrzej|pages=35|oclc=982122195}}</ref> Miłosz's paternal grandfather, Artur Miłosz, was also from a noble family and fought in the 1863 [[January Uprising]] for Polish independence. Miłosz's grandmother, Stanisława, was a doctor's daughter from [[Riga]], [[Latvia]], and a member of the German-Polish von Mohl family.<ref>{{Cite book|oclc=982122195|title=Milosz: A Biography|last=Franaszek, Andrzej|pages=40}}</ref> The Miłosz estate was in [[Serbinai]], a name that Miłosz's biographer {{ill|Andrzej Franaszek|pl|Andrzej Franaszek}} has suggested could indicate Serbian origin; it is possible the Miłosz family originated in Serbia and settled in present-day Lithuania after being expelled from Germany centuries earlier.<ref>{{Cite book|oclc=982122195|title=Milosz: A Biography|last=Franaszek, Andrzej|pages=38}}</ref> Miłosz's father was born and educated in Riga. Miłosz's mother was born in Šeteniai and educated in Kraków.<ref>{{Cite book|oclc=982122195|title=Milosz: A Biography|last=Franaszek, Andrzej|pages=36}}</ref>

Despite this noble lineage, Miłosz's childhood on his maternal grandfather's estate in Šeteniai lacked the trappings of wealth or the customs of the upper class.<ref>{{Cite book|oclc=982122195|title=Milosz: A Biography|last=Franaszek, Andrzej|pages=34}}</ref> He memorialized his childhood in a 1955 novel, ''{{ill|The Issa Valley|lt=The Issa Valley|pl|Dolina Issy (powieść)}}'', and a 1959 memoir, ''{{ill|Native Realm|lt=Native Realm|pl|Rodzinna Europa}}.'' In these works, he described the influence of his Catholic grandmother, Jozefa, his burgeoning love for literature, and his early awareness, as a member of the Polish gentry in Lithuania, of the role of class in society.
[[File:Jacek Dehnel collection - Czesław Miłosz i studenci Uniwersytetu Stefana Batorego w Wilnie P-1158 01.jpg|thumb|400x400px|Czesław Miłosz, third row from top and fourth from left, with fellow students, [[Stefan Batory University]], [[Wilno]], 1930]]
Miłosz's early years were marked by upheaval. When his father was hired to work on infrastructure projects in [[Siberia]], he and his mother traveled to be with him.<ref>{{Cite book|oclc=982122195|title=Milosz: A Biography|last=Franaszek, Andrzej|pages=15}}</ref> After [[World War I]] broke out in 1914, Miłosz's father was conscripted into the Russian army, tasked with engineering roads and bridges for troop movements. Miłosz and his mother were sheltered in [[Vilnius]] when the German army captured it in 1915. Afterward, they once again joined Miłosz's father, following him as the front moved further into Russia, where, in 1917, Miłosz's brother, [[Andrzej Miłosz|Andrzej]], was born.<ref>{{Cite book|oclc=982122195|title=Milosz: A Biography|last=Franaszek, Andrzej|pages=17–20}}</ref> Finally, after moving through Estonia and Latvia, the family returned to Šeteniai in 1918. But the [[Polish–Soviet War]] broke out in 1919, during which Miłosz's father was involved in a [[1919 Polish coup d'état attempt in Lithuania|failed attempt]] to incorporate the newly independent Lithuania into the [[Second Polish Republic]], resulting in his expulsion from Lithuania and the family's move to what was then known as [[Vilnius|Wilno]], which had come [[Wilno Voivodeship (1926–1939)|under Polish control]] after the [[Polish–Lithuanian War]] of 1920.<ref>{{Cite book|oclc=982122195|title=Milosz: A Biography|last=Franaszek, Andrzej|pages=45}}</ref> The Polish-Soviet War continued, forcing the family to move again. At one point during the conflict, Polish soldiers fired at Miłosz and his mother, an episode he recounted in ''Native Realm.''<ref>{{Cite book|oclc=982122195|title=Milosz: A Biography|last=Franaszek, Andrzej|pages=46}}</ref> The family returned to Wilno after the war ended in 1921.

Despite the interruptions of wartime wanderings, Miłosz proved to be an exceptional student with a facility for languages. He ultimately learned Polish, Lithuanian, Russian, English, French, and Hebrew.<ref>{{cite news|title= Czeslaw Milosz, Poet and Nobelist Who Wrote of Modern Cruelties, Dies at 93| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/15/books/czeslaw-milosz-poet-and-nobelist-who-wrote-of-modern-cruelties-dies-at-93.html| access-date=17 March 2017|work=The New York Times|first=Raymond H.|last=Anderson|date=15 August 2004}}</ref> After graduation from [[Sigismund Augustus Gymnasium in Vilnius|Sigismund Augustus Gymnasium]] in Wilno, he entered [[Vilnius University#1918–1939|Stefan Batory University]] in 1929 as a law student. While at university, Miłosz joined a student group called {{ill|Academic Club of Wilno Wanderers and Intellectuals|lt=Academic Club of Wilno Wanderers and Intellectuals|pl|Akademicki Klub Włóczęgów Wileńskich)}} and a student poetry group called {{ill|Żagary|pl|Żagary}}, along with the young poets [[Jerzy Zagórski]], [[Teodor Bujnicki]], {{ill|Aleksander Rymkiewicz|pl|Aleksander Rymkiewicz}}, [[Jerzy Putrament]], and {{ill|Józef Maśliński|pl|Józef Maśliński}}.<ref name="hope">''Between Anxiety and Hope: The Poetry and Writing of Czeslaw Milosz'' by Edward Możejko. University of Alberta Press, 1988. pp 2f.</ref> His first published poems appeared in the university's student magazine in 1930.<ref name=":1" />

In 1931, he visited Paris, where he first met his distant cousin, [[Oscar Milosz]], a French-language poet of Lithuanian descent who had become a [[Swedenborgian]]. Oscar became a mentor and inspiration.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Poet's Work : An Introduction to Czeslaw Milosz|last=Nathan, Leonard and|first=Quinn, Arthur.|date=1991|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0674689695|location=Cambridge, Mass.|pages=93–95|oclc=23015782}}</ref> Returning to Wilno, Miłosz's early awareness of class difference and sympathy for those less fortunate than himself inspired his defense of Jewish students at the university who were being harassed by an anti-Semitic mob. Stepping between the mob and the Jewish students, Miłosz fended off attacks. One student was killed when a rock was thrown at his head.<ref>{{Cite book|oclc=982122195|title=Milosz: A Biography|last=Franaszek, Andrzej|pages=88–89}}</ref>

Miłosz's first volume of poetry, ''{{ill|A Poem on Frozen Time|pl|Poemat o czasie zastygłym}}'', was published in Polish in 1933. In the same year, he publicly read his poetry at an anti-racist "Poetry of Protest" event in Wilno, occasioned by [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler's]] rise to power in Germany.<ref>{{Cite book|oclc=982122195|title=Milosz: A Biography|last=Franaszek, Andrzej|pages=88}}</ref> In 1934, he graduated with a law degree, and the poetry group Żagary disbanded. Miłosz relocated to Paris on a scholarship to study for one year and write articles for a newspaper back in Wilno. In Paris, he frequently met with his cousin Oscar.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Milosz: A Biography|last=Franaszek, Andrzej|pages=129|oclc=982122195}}</ref>

By 1936, he had returned to Wilno, where he worked on literary programs at [[Polish Radio Wilno]]. His second poetry collection, ''[[Three Winters]]'', was published that same year, eliciting from one critic a comparison to [[Adam Mickiewicz]].<ref>{{Cite book|oclc=982122195|title=Milosz: A Biography|last=Franaszek, Andrzej|pages=151}}</ref> After only one year at Radio Wilno, Miłosz was dismissed due to an accusation that he was a left-wing sympathizer: as a student, he had adopted socialist views from which, by then, he had publicly distanced himself, and he and his boss, {{ill|Tadeusz Byrski|pl|Tadeusz Byrski}}, had produced programming that included performances by Jews and Byelorussians, which angered right-wing nationalists. After Byrski made a trip to the Soviet Union, an anonymous complaint was lodged with the management of Radio Wilno that the station housed a communist cell, and Byrski and Miłosz were dismissed.<ref>{{Cite book|oclc=982122195|title=Milosz: A Biography|last=Franaszek, Andrzej|pages=162–163}}</ref> In summer 1937, Miłosz moved to Warsaw, where he found work at [[Polskie Radio|Polish Radio]] and met his future wife, {{ill|Janina Miłosz|lt=Janina|pl|Janina Miłosz}} (née Dłuska; 1909–1986), who was at the time married to another man.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Milosz: A Biography|last=Franaszek, Andrzej|pages=171|oclc=982122195}}</ref>