Wincenty Pol and Fr. Karol Antoniewicz were born in the same – 1807 year. Pol admired Fr. Antoniewicz and other Polish Armenians for their work for the good of the homeland, for introducing the Polish language, Polish customs, and the Catholic faith. Just as Fr. Antoniewicz had, W. Pol participated in the November Uprising, as well as participated in the dramatic events of the Galician Slaughter of 1846 and the Kraków fire in 1850. At that time, they must have met in person, too. Both poets connected the love of their homeland’s nature with the beauty of Polish patriotism, and had the conviction that the community of faith and language were sources of the nation’s identity. Both published their first writings in Lwów. Their poetry served to invigorate hearts. Both frequently referred to the tradition of prayer. Their activity was suffused by a simplicity. Franciszek Wężyk wrote that Pol was a talented writer, who combined beautiful abilities with a gold heart: „His thoughts are as sparks from heaven, and the sound of words - music”. These words also fit beautifully to the figure of Fr. Antoniewicz, a poet who is also worth remembering. Both, thanks to their deep faith in God’s Providence, retained their dignity and serenity in the deep night of suffering.
PL
Wincenty Pol i ks. Karol Antoniewicz urodzili się w tym samym – 1807 roku. Pol bardzo cenił ks. Antoniewicza i innych polskich Ormian za ich pracę dla ojczyzny, za to, że wprowadzają polski język, polskie zwyczaje i wiarę katolicką. Podobnie, jak K. Antoniewicz, W. Pol brał udział w powstaniu listopadowym, podobnie też uczestniczył w dramatycznych wydarzeniach związanych z rabacją galicyjską, czy pożarem Krakowa w 1850 roku. Obu poetów łączy umiłowanie ojczystej przyrody, piękno polskiego patriotyzmu i przekonanie, że u źródeł tożsamości narodu leży wspólnota wiary i tradycja języka. Obaj swe pierwsze utwory publikowali we Lwowie. Ich poezja służyła „ku pokrzepieniu serc”. Obaj poeci często odwołują się do tradycji modlitewnej. Ich twórczość przeniknięta jest prostotą. Franciszek Wężyk pisał o W. Polu, że jest to pełen talentu pisarz, który z pięknymi zdolnościami łączy złote serce: „Myśl jego to iskry z niebios, a dźwięk wyrazów − muzyka”. Słowa te doskonale pasują także do osoby ks. Antoniewicza, poety którego również warto przypomnieć. Obaj w głębi nocy cierpienia, dzięki swej głębokiej wierze w Bożą Opatrzność, zachowali godność i pogodę ducha.
This paper is an attempt at interpreting Wincenty Pol’s poetry, popularised in the form songs. Like most Romantic writers, the author of Pieśń o ziemi naszej regarded music as a unique dis-cipline of asemantic art, i.e. the one which goes beyond popular means of communication and capturing reality in a much deeper way than linguistic articulation. He believed that music is capable of expressing the essence of irrational and abstract phenomena: idealism, spirituality and transcendence; but – as a Romantic writer – he was also aware that art should, above all, reflect emotions accompanying human existence: love, loneliness, closeness, separation, suffering, joy and tears - as an emotional reaction to being moved. Some of his poems were included in Polish culture thanks to compositions by Fryderyk Chopin (performed, among others, by Delfina Potocka), Ignacy Komorowski, Julian Kapliński, Bolesław Dembiński, Adam Mũnchheimer and other composers. The popularity of those songs is the evidence that both folklore inspirations and accompanying historical circumstances recorded them in the na-tional song-book. They represent a typical model of ‘Romantic thinking’ and prove that the ‘Lied’ genre is treated as a return to the origins of culture, thus being an excellent example of lyrical miniatures, which can be fully interpreted by means of vocal realisation.
EN
This paper is an attempt at interpreting Wincenty Pol’s poetry, popularised in the form songs. Like most Romantic writers, the author of Pieśń o ziemi naszej regarded music as a unique dis-cipline of asemantic art, i.e. the one which goes beyond popular means of communication and capturing reality in a much deeper way than linguistic articulation. He believed that music is capable of expressing the essence of irrational and abstract phenomena: idealism, spirituality and transcendence; but – as a Romantic writer – he was also aware that art should, above all, reflect emotions accompanying human existence: love, loneliness, closeness, separation, suffering, joy and tears - as an emotional reaction to being moved. Some of his poems were included in Polish culture thanks to compositions by Fryderyk Chopin (performed, among others, by Delfina Potocka), Ignacy Komorowski, Julian Kapliński, Bolesław Dembiński, Adam Mũnchheimer and other composers. The popularity of those songs is the evidence that both folklore inspirations and accompanying historical circumstances recorded them in the na-tional song-book. They represent a typical model of ‘Romantic thinking’ and prove that the ‘Lied’ genre is treated as a return to the origins of culture, thus being an excellent example of lyrical miniatures, which can be fully interpreted by means of vocal realisation.
DE
This paper is an attempt at interpreting Wincenty Pol’s poetry, popularised in the form songs. Like most Romantic writers, the author of Pieśń o ziemi naszej regarded music as a unique dis-cipline of asemantic art, i.e. the one which goes beyond popular means of communication and capturing reality in a much deeper way than linguistic articulation. He believed that music is capable of expressing the essence of irrational and abstract phenomena: idealism, spirituality and transcendence; but – as a Romantic writer – he was also aware that art should, above all, reflect emotions accompanying human existence: love, loneliness, closeness, separation, suffering, joy and tears - as an emotional reaction to being moved. Some of his poems were included in Polish culture thanks to compositions by Fryderyk Chopin (performed, among others, by Delfina Potocka), Ignacy Komorowski, Julian Kapliński, Bolesław Dembiński, Adam Mũnchheimer and other composers. The popularity of those songs is the evidence that both folklore inspirations and accompanying historical circumstances recorded them in the na-tional song-book. They represent a typical model of ‘Romantic thinking’ and prove that the ‘Lied’ genre is treated as a return to the origins of culture, thus being an excellent example of lyrical miniatures, which can be fully interpreted by means of vocal realisation.
Autor artykułu przedstawia w nowym świetle późną twórczość Wincentego Pola, wychodząc od zapomnianego poematu „Pacholę hetmańskie”. Analizując wypowiedzi poety i zestawiając je z negatywnymi opiniami krytyków i późniejszych badaczy, udowadnia, że dla samego pisarza utwór miał znaczenie przełomowe w trzech płaszczyznach: idealistycznego postrzegania sztuki (i kultury); autorskich poszukiwań współczesnego pamiętnikarskiego eposu; postawy wobec najnowszej tradycji narodu, którą cechuje przywoływanie przeszłości w geście żałoby. W ten sposób artykuł nie tylko pozwala zinterpretować na nowo późne dzieła poety, lecz także przybliża zapomnianą kartę refleksji metaliterackiej z lat sześćdziesiątych XIX wieku.
EN
The author of the article presents the late work of Wincenty Pol in a new light, and his starting point is the forgotten poem “Pacholę hetmańskie” (“Hetman’s Infant)”. He analyses the poet’s statements and compares them with the negative opinions of critics and modern researchers in order to prove that for Pol the work had a critical meaning in three dimensions: idealistic perception of art (and culture), the author’s search for a contemporary diarist epic poem, and his own attitude towards the newest tradition of the nation characterized by mourning of the past. Therefore, the article explains late works of Pol as well as introduces a forgotten part of metaliterary reflection of the 1860s.