Editing Adam Mickiewicz (section)

==Works==
[[File:Adam Mickiewicz Museum in Vilnius2.jpg|thumb|left|Adam Mickiewicz Museum, [[Vilnius]], [[Lithuania]]]]

Mickiewicz's childhood environment exerted a major influence on his literary work.<ref name="cze208"/><ref name="psb694"/> His early years were shaped by immersion in folklore<ref name="cze208"/> and by vivid memories, which he later reworked in his poems, of the ruins of [[Navahrudak Castle]] and of the triumphant entry and disastrous retreat of Polish and [[Napoleon]]ic troops during [[Napoleon's invasion of Russia|Napoleon's 1812 invasion of Russia]], when Mickiewicz was just a teenager.<ref name="psb694" /> The year 1812 also marked his father's death.<ref name="psb694" /> Later, the poet's personality and subsequent works were greatly influenced by his four years of living and studying in [[Vilnius]].<ref name="psb695"/> His first poems, such as the 1818 ''Zima miejska'' (''City Winter'') and the 1819 ''{{ill|Kartofla|pl|Kartofla}}'' (''Potato''), were classical in style, influenced by [[Voltaire]].<ref name="cze210" /><ref name="cze209" /> His ''[[Ballads and Romances]]'' and poetry anthologies published in 1822 (including the opening poem ''{{ill|Romantyczność|pl|Romantyczność (Mickiewicz)}}'', ''Romanticism'') and 1823 mark the start of [[romanticism in Poland]].<ref name="psb695" /><ref name="cze210" /><ref name="cze212" /> Mickiewicz's influence popularized the use of [[folklore]], folk literary forms, and [[historism]] in Polish romantic literature.<ref name="psb695" /> His exile to Moscow exposed him to a cosmopolitan environment, more international than provincial Vilnius and Kaunas in Lithuania.<ref name="psb696" /> This period saw a further evolution in his writing style, with ''Sonety'' (Sonnets, 1826) and ''[[Konrad Wallenrod]]'' (1828), both published in Russia.<ref name="psb696" /> The ''Sonety'', mainly comprising his ''[[Crimean Sonnets]]'', highlight the poet's ability and desire to write, and his longing for his homeland.<ref name="psb696" />

One of his major works, ''[[Dziady (poem)|Dziady]]'' (Forefathers' Eve), comprises several parts written over an extended period of time.<ref name="psb698" /><ref name="cze214217" /> It began with publication of parts II and IV in 1823.<ref name="psb695" /> [[Czesław Miłosz|Miłosz]] remarks that it was "Mickiewicz's major theatrical achievement", a work which Mickiewicz saw as ongoing and to be continued in further parts.<ref name="cze222" /><ref name="cze214217" /> Its title refers to the [[pagan]] ancestor commemoration that had been practiced by [[Slavic nations|Slavic]] and [[Balts|Baltic]] peoples on [[All Souls' Day]].<ref name="cze214217" /> The year 1832 saw the publication of part III:  much superior to the earlier parts, a "laboratory of innovative genres, styles and forms".<ref name="psb698" /> Part III was largely written over a few days; the "Great Improvisation" section, a "masterpiece of Polish poetry", is said to have been created during a single inspired night.<ref name="psb698" /> A long descriptive poem, ''Ustęp'' (''Digression''), accompanying part III and written sometime before it, sums up Mickiewicz's experiences in, and views on, Russia, portrays it as a huge prison, pities the oppressed Russian people, and wonders about their future.<ref name="cze224225" /> Miłosz describes it as a "summation of Polish attitudes towards Russia in the nineteenth century" and notes that it inspired responses from Pushkin ([[The Bronze Horseman (poem)|''The Bronze Horseman'']]) and [[Joseph Conrad]] (''[[Under Western Eyes (novel)|Under Western Eyes]]'').<ref name="cze224225" /> The drama was first staged by [[Stanisław Wyspiański]] in 1901, becoming, in Miłosz's words, "a kind of national sacred play, occasionally forbidden by censorship because of its emotional impact upon the audience."  The Polish government's 1968 closing down of a production of the play sparked the [[1968 Polish political crisis]].<ref name="cze223" /><ref name="Olszewska2007" />

Mickiewicz's ''[[Konrad Wallenrod]]'' (1828), a [[narrative poem]] describing battles of the Christian order of [[Teutonic Order|Teutonic Knights]] against the pagans of Lithuania,<ref name="Koropeckyj2008" /> is a thinly veiled allusion to the long feud between Russia and Poland.<ref name="Koropeckyj2008" /><ref name="psb696" /> The plot involves the use of subterfuge against a stronger enemy, and the poem analyzes moral dilemmas faced by the Polish insurgents who would soon launch the [[November Uprising|November 1830 Uprising]].<ref name="psb696" /> Controversial to an older generation of readers, ''Konrad Wallenrod'' was seen by the young as a call to arms and was praised as such by an Uprising leader, poet {{Interlanguage link|Ludwik Nabielak|pl}}.<ref name="Koropeckyj2008" /><ref name="psb696" /> Miłosz describes ''Konrad Wallenrod'' (named for its protagonist) as "the most committed politically of all Mickiewczi's poems."<ref name="cze221" /> The point of the poem, though obvious to many, escaped the Russian censors, and the poem was allowed to be published, complete with its telling motto drawn from [[Niccolò Machiavelli|Machiavelli]]: ''"Dovete adunque sapere come sono due generazioni di combattere – bisogna essere volpe e leone."'' ("Ye shall know that there are two ways of fighting – you must be a fox and a lion.")<ref name="Koropeckyj2008" /><ref name="psb696" /><ref name="cze220" /> On a purely literary level, the poem was notable for incorporating traditional folk elements alongside stylistic innovations.<ref name="psb696" />

Similarly noteworthy is Mickiewicz's earlier and longer 1823 poem, ''[[Grażyna (poem)|Grażyna]]'', depicting the exploits of a Lithuanian chieftainess against the Teutonic Knights.<ref name="cze213"/><ref name="cze214"/> Miłosz writes that ''Grażyna'' "combines a metallic beat of lines and syntactical rigor with a plot and motifs dear to the Romantics."<ref name="cze213"/> It is said by Christien Ostrowski to have inspired [[Emilia Plater]], a military heroine of the [[November Uprising|November 1830 Uprising]].<ref name="The Westminster Review"/> A similar message informs Mickiewicz's "''Oda do młodości''" ("[[Ode to Youth]]").<ref name="psb695"/>

Mickiewicz's ''[[Crimean Sonnets]]'' (1825–26) and poems that he would later write in Rome and Lausanne, Miłosz notes, have been "justly ranked among the highest achievements in Polish [lyric poetry]."<ref name="cze220"/> His 1830 travels in Italy likely inspired him to consider religious matters, and produced some of his best religiously themed works, such as ''Arcymistrz'' (''The Grand Master'') and ''Do Marceliny Łempickiej'' (''To Marcelina Łempicka'').<ref name="psb697"/> He was an authority to the young insurgents of 1830–31, who expected him to participate in the fighting (the poet {{Interlanguage link|Maurycy Gosławski|pl}} wrote a dedicated poem urging him to do so).<ref name="psb697"/> Yet it is likely that Mickiewicz was no longer as idealistic and supportive of military action as he had been a few years earlier, and his new works such as ''{{ill|Do Matki Polki|pl|Do Matki Polki}}'' (''To a Polish Mother'', 1830), while still patriotic, also began to reflect on the tragedy of resistance.<ref name="psb697"/> His meetings with refugees and escaping insurgents around 1831 resulted in works such as ''{{ill|Reduta Ordona|pl|Reduta Ordona}}'' (''Ordon's Redoubt''), ''Nocleg'' (''Night Bivouac'') and ''{{ill|Śmierć pułkownika|pl|Śmierć pułkownika}}'' (''Death of the Colonel'').<ref name="psb697"/> Wyka notes the irony that some of the most important literary works about the 1830 Uprising were written by Mickiewicz, who never took part in a battle or even saw a battlefield.<ref name="psb697"/>[[File:Manuscript of Pan Tadeusz 8pl.jpg|thumb|250px|Manuscript of ''[[Pan Tadeusz]]'', bearing ''(bottom right)'' his autograph signature]]His ''{{ill|Księgi narodu polskiego i pielgrzymstwa polskiego|pl|Księgi narodu polskiego i pielgrzymstwa polskiego}}'' (''Books of the Polish Nation and the Polish Pilgrimage'', 1832) opens with a historical-philosophical discussion of the [[history of humankind]] in which Mickiewicz argues that history is the history of now-unrealized freedom that awaits many oppressed nations in the future.<ref name="psb698" /><ref name="psb699" /> It is followed by a longer "moral [[catechism]]" aimed at Polish émigrés.<ref name="psb699" /> The book sets out a [[messianism#Russian and Slavic|messianist]] [[metaphor]] of Poland as the "[[Christ of Europe|Christ of nations]]".<ref name="cze226" /> Described by Wyka as a propaganda piece, it was relatively simple, using biblical metaphors and the like to reach less-discriminating readers.<ref name="psb699" /> It became popular not only among Poles but, in translations, among some other peoples, primarily those which lacked their own sovereign states.<ref name="psb699" /><ref name="cze227" /> The ''Books'' were influential in framing Mickiewicz's image among many not as that of a poet and author but as that of ideologue of freedom.<ref name="psb699" />
''[[Pan Tadeusz]]'' (''Sir Thaddeus'', published 1834), another of his masterpieces, is an [[epic poetry|epic poem]] that draws a picture of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania on the eve of [[French invasion of Russia|Napoleon's 1812 invasion of Russia]].<ref name="psb699"/><ref name="cze227"/> It is written entirely in thirteen-syllable [[couplet]]s.<ref name="cze227"/> Originally intended as an apolitical [[idyll]], it became, as Miłosz writes, "something unique in world literature, and the problem of how to classify it has remained the crux of a constant quarrel among scholars"; it "has been called 'the last epos' in world literature".<ref name="cze228"/>  ''Pan Tadeusz'' was not highly regarded by contemporaries, nor by Mickiewicz himself, but in time it won acclaim as "the highest achievement in all Polish literature."<ref name="cze229"/>

[[File:Lithuanian songs by Adomas Mickevičius.jpg|thumb|right|Three [[folk song]]s transcribed by Mickiewicz in [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]]]]

The occasional poems that Mickiewicz wrote in his final decades have been described as "exquisite, gnomic, extremely short and concise".  His ''Lausanne Lyrics'', (1839–40) are, writes Miłosz, "untranslatable masterpieces of metaphysical meditation. In Polish literature, they are examples of that pure poetry that verges on silence."<ref name="cze230"/>

In the 1830s (as early as 1830; as late as 1837) he worked on a [[futurist]] or science-fiction work, ''{{ill|A History of the Future (Mickiewicz)|pl|Historia przyszłości|lt=A History of the Future}}''. (''Historia przyszłości'', or ''L’histoire d’avenir'')<ref name="psb698" /> It predicted inventions similar to radio and television, and interplanetary communication using [[balloon]]s.<ref name="psb698"/> Written partially in French, it was never completed and was partly destroyed by the author, but parts of its seven versions survive.<ref name="psb698"/> Other French-language works by Mickiewicz include the dramas ''{{ill|Konfederaci barscy|pl|Konfederaci barscy}}'' (''The [[Bar Confederation|Bar Confederates]]'') and ''{{ill|Jacques Jasiński, ous les deux Polognes|pl|Jakub Jasiński albo dwie Polski}}'' (''Jacques Jasiński, or the Two Polands'').<ref name="psb699"/> These would not achieve much recognition, and would not be published till 1866.<ref name="psb699"/>

=== Lithuanian language ===
Mickiewicz did not write any poems in Lithuanian. However, it is known that he did have some understanding of the Lithuanian language, although some Polish commentators describe it as limited.<ref name="Jackiewicz1999" /><ref name="znadwiliiwilno" /><ref name="Surwiło1993" />

In the poem ''[[Grażyna (poem)|Grażyna]]'', Mickiewicz quoted one sentence from [[Kristijonas Donelaitis]]' Lithuanian-language poem [[The Seasons (poem)|''The Seasons'']].<ref>{{Cite video|url=https://www.lrt.lt/mediateka/irasas/9072/ar-adomas-mickevicius-kalbejo-lietuviskai|title=Ar Adomas Mickevičius mokėjo lietuviškai?|last=Digimas|first=A.|type=Videotape|language=lt|publisher=Lietuvos Kino Studija|year=1984|trans-title=Did Adam Mickiewicz know the Lithuanian language?|minutes=4:30-4:36|access-date=21 November 2020|archive-date=26 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210926063719/https://www.lrt.lt/mediateka/irasas/9072/ar-adomas-mickevicius-kalbejo-lietuviskai|url-status=live}}</ref> In ''Pan Tadeusz'', there is an un-[[Polonized]] Lithuanian name Baublys.<ref>{{Cite video|url=https://www.lrt.lt/mediateka/irasas/9072/ar-adomas-mickevicius-kalbejo-lietuviskai|title=Ar Adomas Mickevičius mokėjo lietuviškai?|last=Digimas|first=A.|type=Videotape|language=lt|publisher=Lietuvos Kino Studija|year=1984|trans-title=Did Adam Mickiewicz know the Lithuanian language?|minutes=5:58-6:13|access-date=21 November 2020|archive-date=26 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210926063719/https://www.lrt.lt/mediateka/irasas/9072/ar-adomas-mickevicius-kalbejo-lietuviskai|url-status=live}}</ref> Furthermore, due to Mickiewicz's position as lecturer on Lithuanian folklore and mythology in Collège de France, it can be inferred that he must have known the language sufficiently to lecture about it.<ref>{{Cite video|url=https://www.lrt.lt/mediateka/irasas/9072/ar-adomas-mickevicius-kalbejo-lietuviskai|title=Ar Adomas Mickevičius mokėjo lietuviškai?|last=Digimas|first=A.|type=Videotape|language=lt|publisher=Lietuvos Kino Studija|year=1984|trans-title=Did Adam Mickiewicz know the Lithuanian language?|minutes=4:44-4:54|access-date=21 November 2020|archive-date=26 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210926063719/https://www.lrt.lt/mediateka/irasas/9072/ar-adomas-mickevicius-kalbejo-lietuviskai|url-status=live}}</ref> It is known that Adam Mickiewicz often sang Lithuanian folk songs with the [[Samogitians|Samogitian]] Ludmilew Korylski.<ref name=":0">{{Cite video|url=https://www.lrt.lt/mediateka/irasas/9072/ar-adomas-mickevicius-kalbejo-lietuviskai|title=Ar Adomas Mickevičius mokėjo lietuviškai?|last=Digimas|first=A.|type=Videotape|language=lt|publisher=Lietuvos Kino Studija|year=1984|trans-title=Did Adam Mickiewicz know the Lithuanian language?|minutes=6:26-7:05|access-date=21 November 2020|archive-date=26 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210926063719/https://www.lrt.lt/mediateka/irasas/9072/ar-adomas-mickevicius-kalbejo-lietuviskai|url-status=live}}</ref> For example, in the early 1850s when in Paris, Mickiewicz interrupted a Lithuanian folk song sung by Ludmilew Korylski, commenting that he was singing it wrong and hence wrote down on a piece of paper how to sing the song correctly.<ref name=":0" /> On the piece of paper, there are fragments of three different Lithuanian folk songs (''Ejk Tatuszeli i bytiu darża'', ''Atjo żałnieros par łauka'', ''Ej warneli, jod warneli isz''),<ref>{{Cite web|title=Adomas Mickevičius - Lietuviškų dainų fragmentai|trans-title=Adomas Mickevičius and fragments of Lithuanian songs|url=http://antologija.lt/text/adomas-mickevicius-lietuvisku-dainu-fragmentai|access-date=23 August 2020|archive-date=2 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201202064256/http://antologija.lt/text/adomas-mickevicius-lietuvisku-dainu-fragmentai/|url-status=live}}</ref> which are the sole, as of now, known Lithuanian writings by Adam Mickiewicz.<ref>{{Cite web|title=About the fragments of Lithuanian songs, written down by Adomas Mickevičius|url=http://antologija.lt/about_text/adomas-mickevicius-lietuvisku-dainu-fragmentai|access-date=23 August 2020|archive-date=26 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201026102254/http://antologija.lt/about_text/adomas-mickevicius-lietuvisku-dainu-fragmentai|url-status=live}}</ref> The folk songs are known to have been sung in [[Darbėnai]].<ref>{{Cite video|url=https://www.lrt.lt/mediateka/irasas/9072/ar-adomas-mickevicius-kalbejo-lietuviskai|title=Ar Adomas Mickevičius mokėjo lietuviškai?|last=Digimas|first=A.|type=Videotape|language=lt|publisher=Lietuvos Kino Studija|year=1984|trans-title=Did Adam Mickiewicz know the Lithuanian language?|minutes=7:00-7:06|access-date=21 November 2020|archive-date=26 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210926063719/https://www.lrt.lt/mediateka/irasas/9072/ar-adomas-mickevicius-kalbejo-lietuviskai|url-status=live}}</ref>