Cyprian Norwid

Youth (Krakowskie Przedmieście 5, Warsaw), where Chopin lived to 1830. In 1837–39 Norwid studied painting here. Cyprian Norwid was born on 24 September 1821 into a family of Polish–Lithuanian minor nobility bearing the Topór coat of arms, His father was a minor government official. Cyprian Norwid and his brother were orphaned early. His mother died when Cyprian was four years old, and in 1835 his father also died: Norwid was 14 at the time. and entered a private school of painting, studying under Aleksander Kokular and . His incomplete formal education forced him to become an autodidact, and eventually he learned a dozen languages. That year he published ten poems and one short story. his fiancée Kamila broke off their engagement. 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. After being forced to leave Prussia in 1846, Norwid went to Brussels. 1849 saw several of his poems published, those included among others his '' (Social Song). Promethidion'', a long treatise on aesthetics in verse, has been called "the first important piece of Norwid's writing". and the poem Bema pamięci żałobny rapsod (A Funeral Rhapsody in Memory of General Bem). United States Norwid decided to emigrate to the United States in the Fall of 1852, receiving some sponsorship from Wladysław Zamoyski, a Polish nobleman and philanthropist. On 11 February 1853, after a harrowing journey, he arrived in New York City aboard the Margaret Evans, and he held a number of odd jobs there, including at a graphics firm. He was involved in the creation of the memorial album of the Crystal Palace Exhibition and the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations. Back in Paris During April 1854, Norwid returned to Europe with Prince . He lived in England and with Krasiński's help he was finally able to return to Paris by December that year. He gave a well-received series of six lectures on Juliusz Słowacki in 1860, published the next year. His 1865 '' (Chopin's Piano'') is seen as one of his works reacting to the January Uprising. Norwid continued writing, but most of his work met 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). 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. Those years also saw him write three more plays, comedies (Actor. Comedy-drama, 1867), (Behind the Scenes, 1865–1866), and (The Ring of a Grand Lady'', 1872), which Gömöri praised as Norwid's "real genre within the theater". In 1877 his cousin, relocated Norwid to the (Œuvre de Saint Casimir) on the outskirts of Paris in Ivry. That location, run by Polish nuns, was home to many destitute Polish emigrants. Some of his final works include a comedy play '' (Pure Love at Sea Baths, 1880), the philosophical treatesie (Silence, 1882), and novels (written c. 1881–1883), Stygmat (Stigmata, 1881–82) and Tajemnica lorda Singelworth (The Secret of Lord Singelworth'', 1883). Throughout his life, he also wrote many letters, over a thousand of which survived to be studied by scholars. After 15 years the funds to maintain his grave dried out and his body was moved to a mass grave of Polish emigrants. == Themes and views ==

Norwid's early style could be classified as belonging within the romanticism tradition, but it soon evolved beyond it. Danuta Borchardt who translated some of Norwid's poems to English wrote that "Norwid's work belongs to late Romanticism. However, he was so original that scholars cannot pigeonhole his work into any specific literary period". His style was criticized for "being obscure and overly cerebral" and having a "jarring syntax". While Norwid did not create neologisms, he would change words creating new variations of existing language, and he also experimented with syntax and punctuation, for example through the use of hyphenated words, which are uncommon in the Polish language. Much of his work is rhymed, although some is seen as a precursor to free verse that later became more common in Polish poetry. 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 artists should be compensated in the capitalistic society - although Miłosz noted that Norwid was not a socialist. Miłosz also noted that some consider Norwid to be a philosopher more than an artist, and indeed Norwid has inspired, among others, philosophers such as Stanisław Brzozowski. Nonetheless, Miłosz disagrees with that notion, quoting Mieczysław Jastrun who wrote that Norwid was "first of all, an artist, but an artist for whom the most interesting material is thought, reflection, the cultural experience of mankind". == Legacy and commemoration ==

Following his death, many of Norwid's works were forgotten; it was not until the early 20th century, in 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 dramatic legend of the cursed poet". Norwid's "Collected Works" (Dzieła Zebrane) were published in 1966 by , a Norwid biographer and commentator. The full iconic collection of Norwid's work was released during the period 1971–1976 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. On 24 September 2001, 118 years after his death, an urn with soil from the collective grave where Norwid had been interred in Paris' Montmorency cemetery was buried in the "" at Wawel Cathedral. There, Norwid's remains were placed next to those of fellow Polish poets Adam Mickiewicz and Juliusz Słowacki. During a mass held at the cathedral, the Archbishop of Kraków, cardinal Franciszek Macharski said that the doors of the crypt have opened "to receive the great poet, Cyprian Norwid, into Wawel's royal cathedral, for he was an equal of kings". In 2021, on the 200th anniversary of Norwid's birth, the brothers Stephen and Timothy Quay produced a short film titled Vade-mecum about the poet's life and work in an attempt to promote his legacy among foreign audiences. Norwid is often considered the fourth more important poet of the Polish romanticism, and called the Fourth of the Three Bards. Well known in Poland, and a part of Polish school's curricula, Norwid nonetheless remains obscure in English-speaking world. Miłosz notes he has become recognized as a "precusor of modern Polish poetry". or monographs such as 's (2016) Cyprian Norwid. Poeta wieku dziewiętnastego (Cyprian Norwid. A Poet of the Nineteenth Century). == Works ==

of Norwid, Wawel Cathedral Norwid authored numerous works, from poems, both epic and short, to plays, short stories, essays and letters. During his lifetime, according to Miłosz A number have also received translations to other languages, such as Bengali, French, German, Italian, Russian, Slovakian and Ukrainian. From May 2024, an autograph copy of Vade-mecum is presented at a permanent exhibition in the Palace of the Commonwealth. There are also presented two albums Orbis I and Orbis II, containing Norwid's original works and copies of works in various media, in addition to hand written notes, magazine cuttings and photographs. ==See also==