Cyprian Norwid

Cyprian Kamil Norwid (Polish pronunciation: [ˈt͡sɨprjan ˈnɔrvit]; 24 September 1821 – 23 May 1883), a.k.a. Cyprian Konstanty Norwid, was a nationally esteemed Polish poet, dramatist, painter, and sculptor.

Cyprian Norwid
BornCyprian Konstanty Norwid
(1821-09-24)24 September 1821
Laskowo-Głuchy near Warsaw, Congress Poland
Died23 May 1883(1883-05-23) (aged 61)
Paris, France
OccupationPoet, essayist
LanguagePolish
NationalityPolish
GenreRomanticism, Parnassism
Notable worksVade-mecum
Promethidion
Czarne kwiaty. Białe kwiaty

Norwid is regarded as one of the second generation of romantics. He wrote many well-known poems. Norwid led a tragic and often poverty-stricken life. He experienced increasing health problems, unrequited love, harsh critical reviews, and increasing social isolation. He lived abroad most of his life, especially in London and, in Paris where he died.

Norwid's original and non-conformist style was not appreciated in his lifetime and partially due to this fact, he was excluded from high society. His work was only rediscovered and appreciated by the Young Poland art movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. He is now considered one of the four most important Polish Romantic poets. Other literary historians, however, consider this an oversimplification, and regard his style to be more characteristic of classicism and parnassianism.

Life
South annex of Czapski Palace (Krakowskie Przedmieście 5, Warsaw), where Chopin lived to 1830. In 1837–39 Norwid studied painting here. Later he penned "Chopin's Piano", about Russian troops' 1863 defenestration of the piano.

Youth

The surname "Norwid" is a Polish form of the Lithuanian two-syllable archaic (sur)name Norvydas — from noras a wish, a desire, a goal and (iš)vysti to see, literally one, who has a desire.[1][2] One of his maternal ancestors was the Polish King John III Sobieski.[3]: 160  Born on 24 September 1821 into a Polish–Lithuanian noble family bearing the Topór coat of arms,[4]: 3  in the Masovian village of Laskowo-Głuchy near Warsaw,[5]: 3  Cyprian Norwid and his brother Ludwik were orphaned early. For most of their childhood, they were educated at Warsaw schools.[6] In 1835 his father died, leaving 14-year old Norwid an orphan. In 1836 Norwid interrupted his schooling (not having completed the fifth grade)[7]: v–vi  and entered a private school of painting.[6] His incomplete formal education forced him to become an autodidact.[8]: 28 

His first foray into the literary sphere occurred in the periodical Piśmiennictwo Krajowe, which published his first poem, "Mój ostatni sonet" ("My Last Sonnet"), in issue 8, 1840.[4]: 11 [9]: 34  In 1841-1842 he travelled through the Congress Poland.[6]

Europe
Manuscript of "Chopin's Piano"

In 1842 Norwid left Poland, never to return.[6] First went to Dresden in Germany. He later also visited Venice and Florence in Italy; in Florence he signed up for a course in sculpture at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze.[6] After he settled in Rome in 1844, his fiancée Kamila broke off their engagement.[10] Later he met Maria Kalergis, née Nesselrode; they became acquaintances, but his courtship of her, and later, of her lady-in-waiting, Maria Trebicka, ended in failure.[6] The poet then travelled to Berlin, where he participated in university lectures and meetings with local Polonia. It was a time when Norwid made many new social, artistic and political contacts. In Berlin he was arrested due to a misunderstanding, and his short stay in prison resulted in partial deafness.[6] After being forced to leave Prussia in 1846, Norwid went to Brussels.[6] During the European Revolutions of 1848, he stayed in Rome, where he met fellow Polish intellectuals Adam Mickiewicz and Zygmunt Krasiński.[6]

During 1849–1852, Norwid lived in Paris, where he met fellow Poles Frédéric Chopin and Juliusz Słowacki,[6] as well as other emigree artists such as Russians Ivan Turgenev and Alexander Herzen, and other intellectuals such as Jules Michelet (many at Emma Herwegh's salon).[11]: 28 [12]: 816  Financial hardship, unrequited love, political misunderstandings, and a negative critical reception of his works put Norwid in a dire situation. He lived in poverty and suffered from progressive blindness and deafness, but still managed to publish some content in the Polish-language Parisian publication Goniec polski and similar venues[13][14] (1849 saw several of his poems published, those included among others his Pieśń społeczna).[12]: 816  Some of his notable works from that period include poem Bema pamięci rapsod żałobny, drama Zwolon and the philosphical poem-treaty about the nature of art, Promethidion.[6][15] Promethidion, a long treatise on aesthetics in verse, has been called "the first important piece of Norwid's writing".[16]: 814  It was, however, not well received by contemporary critics.[17]: 816  The year 1851 saw him finishing the manuscripts for the dramas Krakus and Wanda[18][19] and the poem Bema pamięci żałobny-rapsod (A Funeral Rhapsody in Memory of General Bem).[20][21]

U.S.A.

Norwid decided to emigrate to the United States of America in the Fall of 1852, receiving some sponsorship from Wladyslaw Zamoyski.[22]: 190  On 11 February 1853 he arrived in New York City aboard the Margaret Evans, and he held a number of odd jobs there, including at a graphics firm.[23] He was involved in the creation of the memorial album of the Universal Exhibition.[16]: 816  By autumn, he learned about the outbreak of the Crimean War. This made him consider a return to Europe, and he wrote to Mickiewicz and Herzen, asking for their assistance.[23]

Back in Paris
Norwid in 1882, by
Pantaleon Szyndler

During April 1854, Norwid returned to Europe with Prince Marceli Lubomirski. He lived in England with Krasiński's help he was finally able to return to Paris by December that year.[23] With his artistic work revived, Norwid was able to publish several works, such as the poem and Quidam. Przypowieść (1857) and story Czarne kwiaty, Białe kwiaty (published in Czas in 1856-1857).[6][16]: 815–816 [24] He gave a well-received series of six lectres on Juliusz Słowacki in 1860, published the next year.[16]: 816  1862 saw the publication of some of his poems in an anthology Poezje collection at Brockhaus in Leipzig.[16]: 816  He took a very keen interest in the outbreak of the January Uprising in 1863. Although he could not participate personally due to his poor health, Norwid hoped to personally influence the outcome of the event.[25] His 1865 Chopin's Piano is seen as one of his works reactign to the January Uprising.[26][11]: 54–58 

He kept on writing, but with little recognition. He grew to accept this, and even wrote in one his works that "the sons pass by this writing, but you, my distant grandchild, will read it... when I'll be no more" (The Hands Were Swollen by Clapping..., 1858).[16]: 814 

In 1866, the poet finished his work on Vade-mecum, a vast anthology of verse. However, despite his greatest efforts it was unable to be published until decades later.[6][27]: 375-378 [28] One of the reasons for this included Prince Władysław Czartoryski failing to grant the poet the loan he had promised. In subsequent years, Norwid lived in extreme poverty and suffered from tuberculosis.[11]: 60  During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 when many of his friends and patrons were distracted with the global evens, he has been starving and his health further deteriorated.[16]: 816  Material hardships did not stop him from writing, in 1869 he wrote A Poem About the Freedom of the Word, a long treatise in verse about the history of words., which was well received at that time. The next year he wrote Assunta, a poem reflecting his views on Christian love, which Christopher John Murray called Norwid's "most succesfull narrative poem".[16]: 815 [29] Those years also saw him write three more plays, comedies Actor (1867), Behind the Scenes (1865-1866), and The Ring of a Grand Lady (1872), which Murray praised as Norwid's "real genre within the theater".[16]: 815  The latter play became Norwid's most frequently prefermed theater piece, although like many of his works, it gained recognition long after his death (published in print in 1933, and staged in 1936).[16]: 815 [30][31]: 291 

In 1877 his cousin, Michał Kleczkowski relocated Norwid to the St. Casimir's Institute nursing home (Œuvre de Saint Casimir) on the outskirts of Paris in Ivry.[6][16]: 816 [32] That location was home to many destitute Polish emigrants.[6] There, Norwid was befriended by Teodor Jełowicki who also gave him material support.[33]: 276  Some of his final works include a comedy play Miłość czysta u kąpieli morskich (1880), the philosophical treatesie Milczenie (1882), and novels Ad leones! (written c. 1881–83), Stygmat (1881–82) and Tajemnica lorda Singelworth (1883).[34] Throughouthis life, he also wrote many letters, over a 1,000 of which survived to be studied by scholars.[6]

During the last months of his life, Norwid was weak and bed-ridden. He frequently wept and refused to speak with anyone. He died in the morning of 23 May 1883.[6] Jełowicki and Kleczkjowski personally covered the burial costs, and Norwid's funeral was also attended by Franciszek Duchiński and Mieczysław Geniusz.[35] After 15 years the funds to maintain his grave dried out and his body was moved to a mass grave of Polish emigrants.[6]

Themes and views
Norwid, Paris, 1861

Norwid's early style could be classfied as belonging within the romanticism tradition, but it soon evolved beyond it.[6][16]: 814  Some scholars consider Norwid to represent late romanticism, others see him as an early modernist.[6][16]: 814 

Critics and literary historians eventually concluded that during his life, Norwid was rejected by his contemporaries as his style was too unique compared to then-prevailing themes (romanticism and positivism) works were also not aligned with the political views of the emigre Poles.[6][36][37] While he displays a Romantic admiration for heroes, he almost never addresses the concept of romantic love.[16]: 814  Norwid attempted to start new types of literary works, for example "high comedy" and "bloodless white tragedy". His works are considered to be deeply philosophical and utilitarian. He is seen as a harsh critic of the Polish society as well as of mass culture. His portrayal of women characters has been praised as more developed than that of many of his contemporaries, whose female characters were more one-dimensional.[6] His works also featured more than purely Polish context, employing pan-European, Greco-Christian symbology.[16]: 814  His works also endorsed orthodox Christian views;[6] in fact Christopher John Murray argues that one of his major themes was "the state and future of Christian civilization".[16]: 814  Another recurring motif in his work was the importance of labor, particularly in the context of artistic work, with his discussions of issues such as how should artists be compensated in the capitalistic society.[6][16]: 814 

Legacy and commemoration

Following his death, many of Norwid's works were forgotten; it was not until the Young Poland period that his finesse and style was appreciated. At that time, his work was discovered and popularised by Zenon Przesmycki, a Polish poet and literary critic who was a member of the Polish Academy of Literature. Przesmycki started republishing Norwid's works c. 1897, and created an enduring image of him, one of the "the dramatic legend of the cursed poet".[6][38]

Norwid’s "Collected Works" (Dzieła Zebrane) were published in 1966 by Juliusz Wiktor Gomulicki, a Norwid biographer and commentator. The full iconic collection of Norwid’s work was released during the period 1971–76 as Pisma Wszystkie ("Collected Works"). Comprising 11 volumes, it includes all of Norwid's poetry as well as his letters and reproductions of his artwork.[39][40]

On 24 September 2001, 118 years after his death in France, an urn containing soil from the collective grave where Norwid had been buried in Paris' Montmorency cemetery was enshrined in the "Crypts of the Bards" at Wawel Cathedral. There, Norwid's remains were placed next to those of fellow Polish poets Adam Mickiewicz and Juliusz Słowacki. The cathedral's Zygmunt Bell, heard only when events of great national and religious significance occur, resounded loudly to mark the poet's return to his homeland. During a special Thanksgiving Mass held at the cathedral, the Archbishop of Kraków, cardinal Franciszek Macharski said that 74 years after the remains of Juliusz Slowacki were brought in, again the doors of the crypt of bards have opened "to receive the great poet, Cyprian Norwid, into Wawel's royal cathedral, for he was an equal of kings".[41]

In 2021, on the 200th anniversary of Norwid’s birth, brothers Stephen and Timothy Quay produced a short film Vade-mecum about the poet's life and work in an attempt to promote his legacy among foreign audiences.[42][43]

Well known in Poland, and a part of Polish school's cirricula, Norwid nonetheless remains obscure in English-speaking world.[37] He has been praised as the best poet of the 19th century by Joseph Brodsky and Tomas Venclova.[44]

The life and work of Norwid have been subject to a number of scholarly treatments. Those include monographs such as Jacek Lyszczyna's (2016) Cyprian Norwid. Poeta wieku dziewiętnastego (Cyprian Norwid. A Poet of the Nineteenth Century).[45] An academic journal dedicated to the study of Norwid, Studia Norwidiana, has been published since 1983.[46]

Works
Bas relief of Norwid, Wawel Cathedral

Norwid's most extensive work, Vade mecum, written between 1858 and 1865, was first published a century after his death. Some of Norwid's works have been translated into English by Walter Whipple and Danuta Borchardt in the United States of America, and by Jerzy Pietrkiewicz and Adam Czerniawski in Britain.[47]

In English
  • The Larva[48]
  • Mother Tongue (Język ojczysty)[49]
  • My Song[50]
  • To Citizen John Brown (Do obywatela Johna Brown)[51]
  • What Did You Do to Athens, Socrates? (Coś ty Atenom zrobił Sokratesie...)[52]
  • In Verona (W Weronie) translated by Jarek Zawadzki[53]

In Polish
  • Fortepian Szopena[54]
  • Assunta (1870)

In Bengali
  • Poems of Cyprian Norwid (কামিল নরভিদের কবিতা) translated into Bengali language by Annonto Uzzul.[55]

Bibliography
  • Jarzębowski, Józef. Norwid i Zmartwychstańcy. London: Veritas, 1960. ("Norwid and The Resurrectionists")
  • Kalergis, Maria. Listy do Adama Potockiego (Letters to Adam Potocki), edited by Halina Kenarowa, translated from the French by Halina Kenarowa and Róża Drojecka, Warsaw, 1986.

See also

References
  1. According to the dictionary of Lithuanian surnames, surname Norvydas is widespread in Samogitia.
  2. According to the statistics, in 1999-2018 there were 43 newborn boys, whose parents gave them a Lithuanian name - Norvydas
  3. Król, Marcin (1985). Konserwatyści a niepodległość: studia nad polską myślą konserwatywną XIX wieku (in Polish). Instytut Wydawniczy Pax. ISBN 978-83-211-0580-2.
  4. Gomulicki, Juliusz W. (1965). Wprowadzenie do biografii Norwida (in Polish). Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy.
  5. Gomulicki, Juliusz W. (1976). Cyprian Norwid: przewodnik po życiu i twórczości (in Polish). Państ. Instytut Wydawniczy.
  6. "Norwid Cyprian Kamil". Encyklopedia PWN (in Polish). Retrieved 2023-03-08.
  7. Norwid, Cyprian Kamil; Braun, Kazimierz (2019). "Wstęp". Cztery dramaty (in Polish). Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich. ISBN 978-83-66267-10-7.
  8. Lyszczyna, Jacek (2016). Cyprian Norwid. Poeta wieku dziewiętnastego (in Polish). Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego. ISBN 978-83-8012-878-1.
  9. Sudolski, Zbigniew (2003). Norwid: opowieść biograficzna (in Polish). Ancher. ISBN 978-83-85576-29-7.
  10. Stanisz, Marek (2006). "Norwid u progu XXI wieku". Studia Norwidiana (in Polish) (24–25): 244–265. ISSN 0860-0562.
  11. Gömöri, George (1974). Cyprian Norwid. Twayne Publishers. ISBN 978-0-8057-2656-5.
  12. Murray, Christopher John (2013-05-13). "Norwid, Cyprian Kamil 1821-1883". Encyclopedia of the Romantic Era, 1760–1850. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-45578-1.
  13. Zehnder, Christian (2021). "Najmniejsza powszechność. O Norwidowskiej skali aktywizmu". Pamiętnik Literacki. Czasopismo kwartalne poświęcone historii i krytyce literatury polskiej (in Polish). 112 (3): 143–162. ISSN 0031-0514.
  14. CORLISS, FRANK J. (1977). "Review of Cyprian Norwid, George Gömöri". The Polish Review. 22 (4): 98–101. ISSN 0032-2970. JSTOR 25777532.
  15. "Norwid Cyprian, Bema pamięci rapsod żałobny - Materiały dodatkowe – galeria wiedzy Wydawnictwa Naukowego PWN". encyklopedia.pwn.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2023-03-25.
  16. Murray, Christopher John (2013-05-13). "Norwid, Cyprian Kamil 1821-1883". Encyclopedia of the Romantic Era, 1760–1850. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-45578-1.
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  18. Dąbrowicz, Elżbieta (2017). "Rzeczy, które ranią. O Krakusie Cypriana Norwida". Białostockie Studia Literaturoznawcze (in Polish) (10): 103–121. ISSN 2082-9701.
  19. Nurzyńska, Agnieszka (2017-02-08). "WANDA CYPRIANA NORWIDA WOBEC TRADYCJI STAROPOLSKIEJ". Colloquia Litteraria. 20 (1): 229. doi:10.21697/cl.2016.1.15. ISSN 1896-3455.
  20. Bodusz, Marek (2008-06-15). "„Ołtarz" Zbigniewa Herberta - wiersz, styl, semantyka". Przestrzenie Teorii (in Polish) (9): 193–203. doi:10.14746/pt.2008.9.14. ISSN 2450-5765.
  21. Nowak-Wolna, Krystyna (2009). "Cypriana Norwida slowo i druk". Stylistyka (in Polish) (XVIII): 113–139. ISSN 1230-2287.
  22. Inglot, Mieczysław (1991). Cyprian Norwid (in Polish). Wydawn. Szkolne i Pedagogiczne. ISBN 978-83-02-03432-9.
  23. GÖMÖRI, GEORGE (2001). "Cyprian Norwid's Image of England and America". The Polish Review. 46 (3): 271–281. ISSN 0032-2970. JSTOR 25779271.
  24. "Norwid Cyprian, Czarne kwiaty, Białe kwiaty - Materiały dodatkowe – galeria wiedzy Wydawnictwa Naukowego PWN". encyklopedia.pwn.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2023-03-25.
  25. Niewczas, Łukasz (2016). "Colloquia Norwidiana XIII: Norwid and the January Uprising". Studia Norwidiana (34EV): 297–303. ISSN 0860-0562.
  26. Esq, Justin Wintle; Wintle, Justin (2021-12-24). Makers of Nineteenth Century Culture. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-85363-3.
  27. Norwid, Cyprian (1971). Gomulicki, Juliusz W. (ed.). Cyprian Kamil Norwid: Pisma wszystkie (in Polish). Vol. 2. Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy.
  28. "Norwid Cyprian, Vade-mecum - Materiały dodatkowe – galeria wiedzy Wydawnictwa Naukowego PWN". encyklopedia.pwn.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2023-03-25.
  29. Doktór, Roman (1998). "Przyczynek do genezy Assunty Cypriana Norwida". Roczniki Humanistyczne (in Polish). 46 (1): 223–230.
  30. Samsel, Karol (2019). ""Pierścień Wielkiej-Damy" Cypriana Norwida jako dramat interfiguralny". Pamiętnik Literacki. Czasopismo kwartalne poświęcone historii i krytyce literatury polskiej (in Polish) (2): 5–14. ISSN 0031-0514.
  31. Rocznik Biblioteki Naukowej PAU i PAN w Krakowie (in Polish). Polska Akademia Umiejętności. 2010.
  32. Zemanek, Bogdan (2021). "Michał Kleczkowski – kuzyna żywot paralelny". Studia Norwidiana (in Polish) (39): 293–310. ISSN 0860-0562.
  33. Norwid, Cyprian (1971). Pisma wszystkie: Listy (in Polish). Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy.
  34. "Norwid Cyprian, "Ad leones!" - Materiały dodatkowe – galeria wiedzy Wydawnictwa Naukowego PWN". encyklopedia.pwn.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2023-03-25.
  35. Samsel, Karol (2016). "On "taking the bones away": the body of Cyprian Norwid and Montmorency". Studia Norwidiana (34EV): 141–154. ISSN 0860-0562.
  36. Norwid, Cyprian (1981). "Preface". Vade-Mecum : Gedichtzyklus (1866) : polnisch/deutsch. Rolf Fieguth. München: Fink. p. 11. ISBN 3-7705-1776-8. OCLC 8546813. Translated to Polish as in: Jauss, Hans Robert. "Przedmowa do pierwszego niemieckiego wydania Vade-mecum Cypriana Norwida. (Przełożył z języka niemieckiego Michał Kaczmarkowski)." Studia Norwidiana 3 (1986): 3-11.
  37. Wilson, Joshua (30 May 2012). "Flames of Goodness". The New Republic. Retrieved 30 May 2012.
  38. Stanisz, Marek (2018). "On the scientific gift for Professor Stefan Sawicki, with general remarks on modern Norwid Studies". Studia Norwidiana (36EV): 277–300. ISSN 0860-0562.
  39. Brzozowski, Jacek (2014). "Uwagi o tomach trzecim i czwartym Dzieł wszystkich Cypriana Norwida". Studia Norwidiana. 32: 233–260. doi:10.18290/10.18290/sn.2019.37-15. ISSN 0860-0562.
  40. Trojanowiczowa, Zofia (1986). "Uwagi o pierwszych dwu tomach Pism wszystkich Cypriana Norwida w opracowaniu Juliusza W. Gomulickiego" (PDF). Studia Norwidiana 3. 3: 243–250.
  41. "Norwid laid to rest in Wawel Cathedral". info-poland.icm.edu.pl. Retrieved 2023-03-08.
  42. Konopka, Blanka (April 13, 2021). "Award-winning Quay brothers create Norwid film to promote poet's work to foreign audiences". The First News. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  43. Konopka, Blanka (September 24, 2021). "'Underappreciated' poet Norwid honoured on his 200th birthday with events across the country". The First News.
  44. Korpysz, Tomasz (2018). "Introducion". Colloquia Litteraria. 4.
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  47. "Polish Literature in English Translations:19th Century". polishlit.org. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
  48. "The Larva - Cyprian Kamil Norwid". www.mission.net. Retrieved 2023-03-19.
  49. "Mother Tongue - Cyprian Kamil Norwid". www.mission.net. Retrieved 2023-03-19.
  50. "MY SONG (II) - Cyprian Kamil Norwid". www.mission.net. Retrieved 2023-03-19.
  51. "To Citizen Johna Brown". www.mission.net. Retrieved 2023-03-19.
  52. "What Did You Do to Athens, Socrates? - Cyprian Kamil Norwid". www.mission.net. Retrieved 2023-03-19.
  53. "Cyprian Kamil Norwid, In Verona :: Wolne Lektury". wolnelektury.pl. Retrieved 2023-03-19.
  54. "Fortepian Szopena - Wikiźródła, wolna biblioteka". pl.wikisource.org (in Polish). Retrieved 2023-03-19.
  55. "Daily Observer | 24 February, 2015, tuesday". www.eobserverbd.com. Retrieved 2023-03-08.
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