An Anthology of Polish Literature 9780231878012

Table of contents :
CONTENTS
THE MIDDLE AGES
THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY
THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY
THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
THE ERA OF YOUNG POLAND
BETWEEN THE WARS (1918-1939)

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AN A N T H O L O G Y OF POLISH L I T E R A T U R E

COLUMBIA

SLAVIC

STUDIES

A S E R I E S OF T H E D E P A R T M E N T OF S L A V I C COLUMBIA

LANGUAGES

UNIVERSITY

ERNEST J. SIMMONS, GENERAL

EDITOR

AN A N T H O L O G Y OF

POLISH LITERATURE EDITED WITH ENGLISH

COMMENTARY

A N D N O T E S BY

MANFRED KRIDL

1957 C O L U M B I A U N I V E R S I T Y PRESS NEW YORK

The preparation of this work for publication has been made possible by a grant of the Rockefeller Foundation to the Department of Slavic Languages, Columbia University. The Stan wood Cockey Lodge Foundation has generously provided funds to meet part of the cost of publication.

Published in Great Britain, Canada, India, and by Geoffrey Cumberlege: Oxford University

Pakistan Press

London, Toronto, Bombay, and Karachi

Library of Congress Catalog Card *Vumber: 56—8988

PrinUd in The Netherlands by H. Veenman CS Zonen,

Wageningtn

PREFACE is the first attempt to compile an extensive anthology of Polish literature in the original, with English introductions, commentaries, and notes. Its purpose is to facilitate the study of Polish literature a m o n g American and English students of the language, and to encourage further interest in both the authors and their works, only excerpts from which could be included in the anthology. Any editor of an anthology such as this faces a difficult problem in selecting the authors a n d their works, and the excerpts which will best serve the aim of presenting the character and values of a given literature. T h e r e are two obvious ways of carrying out this task—one is quantitative a n d the other is qualitative. T h e first consists of including as many authors as possible, even if some of them have only a historical significance, in order to give a picture of richness and variety; the second limits the number of writers to really prominent ones but permits more excerpts from works of permanent literary value. T h e present anthology follows the latter method in the spirit of the Latin maxim, Non multa sed multum. T h e fiftyeight writers included here are only a small percentage of the whole body of authors active during seven and a half centuries of Polish literature. But they form the real elite and their works for the most part are of universal artistic value. Others of some merit are mentioned in the general introductions to the various literary periods. Another problem connected with selection is that of the concept of literature itself. Without going into this still controversial problem, the editor must state that he conceives of literature in the exact meaning of the term, that is, poetry, fiction, and drama. This was, therefore, the criterion of selection. Historians, moralists, political writers, philosophers, critics, a n d so on are in principle omitted, with a few exceptions however, necessitated by the superior position of some prose writers, especially in old Polish literature. As a French anthology would be inconceivable without Montaigne, Bossuet, and Pascal, so a Polish anthology cannot leave out such figures as Ostrorog, Rej, Modrzewski, Skarga, Konarski, Staszic, and Koll^taj. This exception is made in order to give the reader at least a general view of Polish prose. Since Polish literature reached its highest level of achievement in lyric > T H E PRESENT BOOK

vi

PREFACE

epic, and dramatic poetry, the bulk of the anthology consists of poets of all epochs. Fiction is less fully represented, and for the most part by short stories, because only in a few cases was it possible to single out from long novels chapters which retained a certain narrative unity. Of course, the necessity of limiting the size of the book was another decisive factor in the nature of the selection. T h e book embraces the entire historical development of Polish literature from its beginning in the Middle Ages to approximately the end of the Second World War. Postwar literature could not, unfortunately, be included because of the limitation of space. It may well be possible and advisable to do so if a second edition of the anthology becomes necessary. T h e arrangement of the book follows general chronological lines. It is divided into periods embracing either whole centuries, such as the fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth, or into shorter literary periods within a century, such as Classicism, Pre-Romanticism, Romanticism, Realism, and "Young Poland" of the nineteenth century, and the period between the wars of the twentieth century. Every period is preceded by an introduction in English containing information about the historical background, the general literary character, and the outstanding authors. Biographical and bibliographical data and a general characterization stressing the main features of each author's work and its role in the development of Polish literature are provided. Excerpts from longer works are preceded by a summary of their content. Finally, there are the Polish texts, lyric poems, and short stories reprinted in full, and longer poems and novels in cxcerpts. Special attention has been paid in the commentaries and notes to linguistic, historical, and other relevant data. It is taken for granted that the reader will have a knowledge of contemporary literary Polish, but is less acquainted, or not at all acquainted, with the older language, with idioms, historical facts, and Polish life and customs through the centuries. Consequently, the commentary explains archaic, idiomatic, and rare expressions; proverbs and sayings peculiar to Polish; difficult poetic figures; and historical personages and events. Finally, the so-called realia, concerning the immense realm of the Polish milieu—buildings, furniture, food, dresses, tools, arms, ceremonies, social customs, and so on—are commented on. Since it is difficult to know the proficiency in Polish of American and English readers of this book, and it will certainly vary considerably, the editor has been compelled to estimate an average level of understanding. But even such a level may prove too low for some students and too high for others. Accordingly, it seemed safer to adjust the commentary to a lower level, on the principle that a reader who knows t he language well will be less

PREFACE

vii

annoyed by unnecessary explanations than one who finds them insufficient. Some repetitions in explaining the same words or expressions were unavoidable in view of the scope of the material. Then too, one cannot expect a reader in a foreign language to remember every word once translated. So it seemed in some cases preferable to translate a word again rather than oblige the reader to look for the page on which it first appears. As for the notes, a method was chosen which is not usual in American publications, but which seems to be practical. The point is that there are— especially in old Polish literature—texts which require so many comments that one line might well be keyed to three or four numbers referring to footnotes. The appearance of such a text would be both discouraging and confusing. To avoid this, I have numbered the lines of the text on the left margin—5, 10, 15, and so forth—and I refer to these figures in the notes. The properties and peculiarities of the language of every author have been carefully preserved. The orthography of the anthology is that in use previous to the reform of 1936 (since then obligatory in Poland). The main reason for this deviation is that the new spelling changes the phonetic aspect of a number of words and grammatical forms. It is impossible to apply this orthography to modern poetry, because in many cases it would distort the rhymes which were formed by poets according to previous rules (if we printed, for example, zi«mi - naszjrni instead of naszemi, or zlotrnio tym instead of o tem). Although it would be easier to use the new spelling for prose—but even here some inconveniences would arise—I have abstained from this in order not to have in one book two different spellings. The same applies to the commentary. The preparation of the book required the help and collaboration of many people, to whom the editor expresses his warm gratitude. The anthology came into existence thanks to the initiative of Professor Ernest J . Simmons, General Editor of the Columbia Slavic Studies, to whom it owes many valuable suggestions and advice. Dr. Ludwik Krzyzanowski's help consisted of translating into English the majority of the introductions and biographies, as well as of preparing annotations to a considerable number of texts. Miss Matilda Berg worked carefully on correcting the English of all the introductions and biographies. Professor Francis J . Whitfield's linguistic knowledge was of great assistance in finding English equivalents for Polish idioms and in explaining some grammatical forms; he also very kindly looked over the whole manuscript and smoothed the style of the introductions and a number of commentaries. Mrs. Rulka Langer did considerable editorial work in revising the translation of Polish terms and expressions. Dr. Alfred Berlstein of the Public Library was very helpful in looking up Polish texts and in directing the preparation

viii

PREFACE

of photostats. My gratitude is also due to the Rockefeller Foundation for financial support in preparing the material of the book and to the Stanwood Cockey Lodge Foundation for a grant toward its publication. Now that this work has come to an end, I must confess that I fully realize many of its inadequacies and shortcomings. Because of the limitation of space I had to apply strict and severe criteria as to the selection of authors and works. Such a hard task involves many doubts and hesitations as to whether the choice of one author or work and the omission of others have always been right. Then, too, the selection in some cases had to depend upon materials available in the United States. A final difficulty has been the character and length of the introductory remarks to individual authors. The choice was either to limit myself to dry bio- and bibliographical data or to try to give concise descriptions of their works. I have attempted to combine bibliographical information with general characterization. The latter, however, could not be, by its very substance, adequate and sufficient. M.K.

CONTENTS T H E MIDDLE AGES, 3

4 5

Bogurodzica Notes T H E FIFTEENTH CENTURY, 7

Pieiri o M?ce PaAskiej Skarga Matki Boskiej pod Krzyzem Kolenda Notes

8 9 9 10

Jan Ostrorig Traktat o naprawie Rzeczypospolitej Notes

12 ia 14

T H E SIXTEENTH CENTURY, 1 5

Mikolaj Rej Zwierciadlo [2ywot czlowieka poczciwego] Sp61ne narzekanie wszej Korony na porz^dnq niedbalo& nasz£ . Notes

17 17 21 22

Jan Kochanowski From Muza Fraszki Do g6r i las6w Do miloSci Do paniej Do dziewki Do snu Na lip? O Kozle O kapelanie O doktorze Hiszpanie From Piesni [Songs] From Book I : PiesA 11 From Book I : PieSA 111

25 25 26 26 27 27 27 28 28 28 29 29 29 29 30

CONTENTS

X

From Book I : Piesñ vn From Book I : Pieáñ ix From Book I : Pieáñ x x i v From Book I I : Piesñ vil From Book I I : Piesñ Piesñ Swi?tojañska o Sobótce From O d p r a w a poslów greckich Chorus Psaherz Dawidowy [Psalms of David] Psalm 7 Psalm 74 Psalm 91 Treny Tren v Tren VIII Tren ix Tren xi T r e n XVIII Notes

31 32 33 34 35 35 37 38 39 39 40 42 42 43 43 44 44 45 45

Mikolaj Sfp Szarzynski Fraszka o Kasi i Anusi O wojnie naszej, któr^ wiedziemy z szatanem, áwiatem i cialem O nietrwalej miloáci rzeczy áwiata tego Notes Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski O naprawie Rzeczypospolitej Notes Piotr Skarga Powfski From Kazania sejmowe O milosci K u Ojczyznie O prawach niesprawiedliwych Notes

53 .

53 53 54 54 55 55 58 60 60 60 61 62

THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY, 6 4

Szymon Szymonowicz Kolacze 2eñcy Notes

66 66 69 72

CONTENTS

xi

Szymon Zimorowicz Licydyna Cyceryna Pawencja Bohymnja Notes

75 75 76 77 77 78

Waclaw Potocki W kosciele gwizdac Golono, strzyzono Nienadana ceremonja Raj ze swiatem From Wojna Chocimska Inwokacja Notes

79 79 79 80 80 81 81 81

Andrzej Morsztyn Do trupa Niestatek Do panny Cuda miloSci Odjazd Do [swej panny] Notes

83 83 83 84 84 84 85 85

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, 86

Ignacy Krasicki From Bajki Wstep do bajek Jagni? i wilcy Pan i pies Przyjaciele Dewotka Chiop i ciel? Szczur i kot Ptaszki w klatce Wilk pokutuj^cy Czapla, ryby i rak From Satyry Pijaiistwo 2ona modna Notes

88 88 88 89 89 89 89 89 90 90 90 90 91 91 94 98

xii

CONTENTS Stanislaw Trtmbecki

102

From Sofij6wka Do Kossowskiej w taiicu Anakreontyk: przy odebraniu czaszy wina z pi^knych r^k . Wilk i baranek Myszka, kot i kogut Notes

102 103 104 105 106 107

Franciszek Karpinski Laura i Filon Piesn poranna PieSn o Narodzeniu Panskiem Piesn wieczorna Dojustyny Notes

109 109 112 113 114 114 115

Franciszek Dyonizy Kniaznin O Elizic Rozkoszy skutek Do w^wiw Do Bugu Krosienka. W rodzaju pasterskim Do gwiazd Notes

117 117 11 y

.

119 120 121 121

Franciszek Zablockx From Leaflets written during the Four Year Diet . From Fircyk w zalotach Notes

123 .

123 124 131

Stanislaw Konarski From Ustawy szkolne From O skutecznym rad sposobie Notes

133 133 135 136

Stanislaw Staszic From Przestrogi dla Polski Do Pan6w [czyli Moznowladcow] Grunta chlopskie czyli rolnik pracowity Notes

137 137 137 140 140

Hugo Kollqtaj From Prawo polityczne Narodu Polskiego Notes

142 142 145

CONTENTS

xiii

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, I46

Classicism and Pre-Romanticism, 148 Kajetan Koimian From Ziemianstwo

149 149

Alojzy Felinski From Barbara Notes

.

.

.

Kazimierz Brodzinski Pasterka Pasterz do Zosi Notes

151 151 155 157 157 157 158

Romanticism, 159 Adam Mickievuicz Oda do mlodosci ¿eglarz Do Niemna From Dziady, Part I From Sonety Do D.D Möwi? z sob^, z drugimi plqcz? sie w rozmowie Rezygnacja Stepy Akermariskie Cisza morska. Na wysokosci Tarkankut Zegluga Burza Widok gor ze stepöw Kozlowa Bakczysaraj Bajdary Pielgrzym Do matki Polki From Konrad Wallenrod From Piesri Wajdeloty From Powiesc Wajdeloty Rozmowa wieczorna Arcy-Mistrz Dziady, Part I I I [Opowiadanie Sobolewskiego] From Improwizacja

161 162 164 165 166 167 167

.

.

.

167 168 168 169 169 170 170 171 171 172 172 174 174 175 178 179 180 180 183

xiv

CONTENTS

From Widzenie Ewy Pan Tadeusz [Pocz^tek Ksi?gi pierwszej] From Book I I [Sniadanie w domu S?dziego] From Book I V [Polowanie na niedzwiedzia] From Book I X [Rok 1812] From Book X I I [Polonez] Notes Antoni Malczewski

.

,35 ^7 ^7 189 190 ,92

2 o6

From Marja Notes

206 208

Juljusz Slowacki Hymn Na sprowadzenie prochöw Napoleona Pogrzeb kapitana Meyznera Tak mi Boze dopomöz From Poeta i natchnienie [W pami?tniku Zofji Bobrowny] [Los mi? juz zaden nie moze zatrwozyi] [Panie! Jezeli zamkniesz sluch narodu] [Do Matki] [Gdy noc gl?boka wszystko uspi i oniemi] [Bo to jest wieszcza najjaSniejsza chwala] From Horsztyriski From Beniowski [Ojezyku] [O Bogu] [Wspomnienie o kochance mlodoSci] From Fantazy From Kröl Duch [Poczqtek pierwszego rapsodu] [Wizja "Cörki SJowa", symbolu Polski] [Wizja Polski przedhistorycznej] [Pogrzeb Wandy] [Biogoslawieristwa Popiela] Notes

210 211 212 214 216 217 218 219 219 220 220 221 221

Cyprjan Norwid Moja piosnka [I] Bema pami?ci zalobny-rapsod Moja piosnka [II]

227 228 229 230 236 237 237 238 238 239 241 248 250 251

CONTENTS

xv

Na zgon S.p. J a n a Gajewskiego Post scriptum Pielgrzym LitoSd From Fortepjan Szopena From Litanja do Najswi^tszej Marji Panny From A Dorio ad Phrygium From Promethidion Ad lcones! Notes

252 253 254 254 254 256 257 258 260 269

Zygmunt Krasinski Zawsze i wsz^dzie [Ledwom ci? poznal] From Nieboska komedja From Irydion From Part I From The Epilogue Notes

276 276 277 278 286 286 290 291

Polish Literature at Home After 1831, 294 Aleksander Fredro From Pan Jowialski Pawel i GaweJ From Zemsta Notes Kornel Ujejski Choral . . . Zawiana chata Notes

296 296 296 297 309 .

.

.

.

312 . 3 1 2 314, 314

Teofil Lenartowicz Jak to na Mazowszu Zloty kubek Kalina Notes

315 315 317 318 318

Henryk Rzewuski Pamiqtki J . Pana Seweryna Soplicy Xi^ze Radziwill Panie Kochanku Notes

320 320 321 329

xvi

CONTENTS

Józef Korzeniowski From Kollokacja Notes

333 333 343

Józef Ignacy Kraszewski From Morituri Notes

346 346 355

Positivism and Realism, 358 Adam Asnyk Szkoda ! Mi?dzy nami nic nie bylo Zwifdly listek Bez granic Za moich miodych lat T a Iza Darcmne zale Notes Marja Konopnicka [A czemuz wy, chlodne rosy] [Przeoraty raz i drugi] [I mówi? : odejdz ! - i wracam si? cicha] Na Janikulum Na morzu w cisz? Fala, w pyty rozbita A ci, co gin4 Pocalunek Roberta Emmeta Dym Notes Boleslaw Prus [Aleksander Giowacki]

.

360 360 361 361 362 362 363 363 364 365 365 366 366 367 368 369 370 370 371 377 382

Z legend dawnego Egiptu Kamizelka Notes

383 388 396

Eliza Orzeszkowa Ogniwa Notes

399 399 415

Heniyk Sienkiewkz Latarnik Notes

419 420 43«

CONTENTS T H E E R A OF Y O U N G P O L A N D ,

xvii 433

Kazimierz Tetmajer Melodja mgid nocnych W lesie [Pami^tam ciche, jasne, zlote dnie] [Mów do mnie jeszcze] W w^drówce [Idzie na pola, idzie na bory...] [W wieczorn^ cisz? z daleka slysz?...] Notes

435 435 436 436 437 437 437 437 438

Jan Kasprowicz B^dz pozdrowiona! [W Giemnosmreczyñskich Skal zwaliska] Wiatr gnie sieroce smreki Nie wrócisz do mnie Nad ksi^zk^ nachylony Swi^ty Boze, Swi^ty Mocny [A ci, co zaznawszy znoju] [Chcialbym otwieraé dziá serce] Rozmilowala si? ma dusza Notes

439 439 440 440 441 441 442 445 447 449 449

Antoni Lange Samotnoáé W kazdej chwili zywota

452 452 452

Leopold Staff Idáemy Zv\yci?zca Do gwiazd Kxnanie J«*6" • O, moje szare dni Ogród przedziwny Kcchaé i tracié Wchr szalal w nocy J a l to bye moze? Paiie, którego wszechmoc wszystko moze JZichodnia zorza niebosklonu] Wdnosé Noes

453 454 454 455 455 456 457 457 458 459 459 459 460 460 461 461

CONTENTS

xviii Tadeusz Boy-£elenski PiesA o ziemi naszej Notes

4.63 463 464

Stanislaw Wyspianski [Wesoiy jestem, wesoly] From Wesele From Noc listopadowa Notes

465 465 467 480 489

Stefan