SKI
Correspondance de Sigismond Krasin?
Correspondance de Sigismond Krasin?
Poland - 1919 - Krasinski - Anonymous Poet of Poland
Oh! look on me! Thou art on high, and I below. Let
death not be for ever my only part. Take from my forehead
with thy hand the pains of life; because now for ever I have
loved thee. To My Elisa (Baden-Baden, St Elizabeth's Day.
Nov. 19th, 1857).
The outer events of Krasinski's declining years were
the Crimean war with, first the hopes, then the bitter
disillusion that it brought to Polish hearts; the death of
Adam Mickiewicz in Turkey while arming a Polish
legion to fight in the war on the side of France and
England;--Krasinski admired him with enthusiasm
as the great poet and leader of his nation, although
he was not in entire agreement with certain of his
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? 310 The Anonymous Poet of Poland
views1; the grievous loss of his youngest child in her
fourth year. In his letters to his friends, often not
written with his own hand but dictated in a condition
bordering on blindness, the poet's deep and increasing
religious faith is very noticeable. In his Roman Easter
of 1852 he writes to Cieszkowski:
I found your letter this morning on my return from
receiving the most Blessed Sacrament. Believe me, there is
something above nature in Confession and Communion. . . All
pain (and whose life is not pain! ) must in the end have recourse
for relief to them. This earth is the pain of pains ; if God did
not frequently come down to it and give Himself to lips
hungering for Him, it would be hell3.
In a later letter, after expressing his trust in Divine
Providence, he adds:
My dear, dear August, the further we go into the forest of
life, the more are there of thorny trees, the fewer flowers and
shrubs and kindlier verdure. But the teaching of life is that
God guides all, that He is at the helm, and men only row, and
that submission to that Most Holy Will is man's only strength3.
Such is the tenor of Krasinski's confidences to his
friends. And still, despite every loss and disappointment
and suffering, his faith in the resurrection of his country
that he knew he would not live to see never failed him
as he sank into his grave. To quote in detail what he
wrote upon this subject to his confidants in the end span
of his life would involve too much repetition of what
has been already said : but among his last letters to his
tried and beloved friends, Ko2mian and Sottan, there
1 "Adam has gone from among us. At that news my heart broke. He
was one of the pillars upholding the edifice, composed not of stones but
of so many living and bleeding hearts. The greatest poet, not only of
the nation but of all the Slavonic races, is no more. " Letters to Sottan.
Baden, Dec. 5, 1855. For further details on Krasinski's relations with
Mickiewicz, see my Adam Mickienvicz.
2 Letters to Cieszkowski. April 12, 1852, Easter Monday.
3 Ibid. Heidelberg, Feb. 6, 1855.
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? Resurrecturis 311
are two passages that bear the dignity and the supreme
final outlook of dying words, with which we close our
studies in the Anonymous Poet's correspondence. To
Kozmian he writes in April, 1856:
The upright disappear, great figures are shattered and, fall
into the abyss of the past. Puppets or the unworthy remain:
but in spite of all this our faith should remain one and the
same. All these are only tests--the necessary tests of Resur-
recturis. Without such there is no resurrectio1.
For Soitan he records the saying he loved and
which well typifies the character of his life:
Once more I beseech you do not think gloomily about our
cause. Speravit contra spent: that is a great and holy word of
the sacred Scriptures3.
He still from time to time gathered his sinking
strength to address eloquent pleas for his nation to
influential personages; to the aunt of Napoleon III,
Stephanie, Grand Duchess of Baden, of whom the poet
was a personal friend; to Napoleon III himself. In
1857 and 1858 Krasinski pleaded personally with
Napoleon on behalf of Poland in two private audiences,
of which he left a full account among his papers, and
which was published for the first time in the Jubilee
edition. These written appeals have that stamp of
spiritualized patriotism, the high sense of Poland's call-
ing, and--in the letters to the Grand Duchess--the
conviction of miracle triumphant over earthly obstacle
and against human probability, that we find in all Kra-
sinski's work, linked to the clear, calm political reasoning
with which he viewed the European situation, and which,
says Count Tarnowski, was so unerring that events
proved him a true prophet3.
1 Letters to Kozmian. Baden, April 3, 1856.
2 Letters to Sot tan. Baden, April 14, 1856.
3 St. Tarnowski, Zygmunt Krasinski.
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? 312 The Anonymous Poet of Poland
Among his manuscripts were also found a few other
papers in prose that were written at this time, all on
the Polish question, and some unfinished verses. These
latter were probably, according to the editors of the
Jubilee edition, intended to be worked out into a longer
poem, and then given to Poland as a piece of spiritual
guidance. They are ascribed by the same critics to
1858, the year preceding Krasinski's death. Although
at the end of a life of bitter national grief, the Anony-
mous Poet here speaks in quiet sadness of his country
as an outcast, abandoned by all except her faithful
companions of " wrong and deception," whose children
are tempted within and without her boundaries, he
addresses her as ever : " My Polish nation arising from
the dead. " He repeats to her the language of his Re-
surrecturis, begging her to believe that: "in the end
there is only victory where is virtue, only resurrection
where is Golgotha. He only shall make his enemies
his footstool who hath loved much and suffered much. "
He points to the calamities that have fallen on France
as her penalty for abandoning Poland. "I saw, oh,
Lord, how earthly causes are as perishing grain, mown
down in the evening though in the morning it was green.
Rulers and sovereigns end. Virtue alone knows no
end. " Once more he looks to Christ crucified and to
the reign of the Holy Spirit. "The last tears are falling
from men's eyes, and the last fetters from men's hands.
Sleep still, oh, earth! Thy Lord shall wake thee soon. "
In thy Rebirth from Death to Life (1858).
These were Krasinski's lastlines. Inthe vain journey
made from place to place to save his life, he halted with
his wife and children in the winter of 1858 at Paris on
the way to Algiers. In November Wincenty Krasinski
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? Resurrecturis
313
died in Poland, his dying son being unable to attend
his deathbed. Shattered with grief at his father's loss,
in the intervals of physical suffering Zygmunt spent the
last weeks of his life struggling to write a memoir of
Wincenty Krasinski: but this work, by which he in-
tended to vindicate the General's memory, could never
be carried through. He survived his father scarcely
three months. On the 23rd of February, 1859, at the
age of forty-seven, the Anonymous Poet of Poland
laid down the burden of the life that had been given to
his nation and fellow-men.
We need add little more. The summing up of Kra-
sinski's life and work is to be found not merely in his
own words; in his revelation of the sublimest of national
idealisms and of the history of a soul that ennobled and
conquered suffering both for himself and for his people,
told in the language of a great poet; but also in the
testimony borne by his fellow-Poles to what his teach-
ing has done for themselves and for their country. So
recently as the eve of the European war Polish political
writers have urged upon their persecuted nation the
moral of Iridion1. In Krasinski's writings, banned by
the government of the Tsars in Poland, smuggled as
penal contraband into the country for which they were
intended, young Poles have learnt the defence and
guidance of their souls amidst the unspeakable tempta-
tions by which their youth--the youth of the oppressed
--has been beset. They can look back to the day when
Krasinski's words, carried to them in secret over the
frontier, first reached their hands as the day of their
spiritual awakening2. Sons of Polish exiles, born and
1 E. Starczewski, L Europe el la Pologne. Paris, 1913.
2 M. Zdziechowski, The Vision of Krasinski, Cracow, 1912, where the
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? 3 H The Anonymous Poet of Poland
brought up in a foreign land, living under foreign
influences, who have never beheld their own country,
tell us that to their studies of Krasinski they in great
part owe the preservation of their own intense Polish
nationality. In these things resides the immortality of
the Anonymous Poet of Poland.
author, a distinguished Polish professor, describes as above the effect upon
his character of Krasinski's works. They were brought to him in his boy-
hood by one of the ladies of his family, hidden in her petticoats to elude
the Russian police.
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? BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
L BIOGRAPHY AND CRITICISM
Jo? zef Kallenbach, Zygmunt Krasin? ski: Zycie i Two? rczos? c? Lat
M? odych (1812-1838). 2 vols. Lwo? w, 1904.
Juliusz Kleiner, Zygmunt Krasin? ski: Dzieje Mys? li. 2 vols.
Lwo? w, 1912.
Count Stanis? aw Tarnowski, Zygmunt Krasin? ski. Cracow,
1892, and later edition of same, Cracow, 1912.
Maryan Zdziechowski, Byron i jego Wiek. 2 vols. Cracow,
1894-97.
Maryan Zdziechowski, Mesyanis? ci i Siowianojile. Cracow,
1888.
Maryan Zdziechowski, Wizya Krasin? skiego. Cracow, 1912.
M. Mazanowski, Zygmunt Krasin? ski. Lwo? w.
Julian Klaczko, La Poc? sie Polonaise au Dix-Neuvieme Siecle
et le Poete Anonyme. Revue des Deux Mondes. 1862.
Adam Mickiewicz, Les Slaves. Paris, Musee Adam Mickiewicz,
1914.
T. Pini, Zygmunta Krasin? skiego tak zwany "Niedokon? czony
Poemat'' Pro? ba Genezy. Lwo? w, 1896.
Gabriel Sarrazin, Les Grands Poetes Romantiques de la Pologne.
Paris, 1906.
Pamie? tnik Literacki. Zeszyt Jubileuszowy Krasin? skiemu
pos? wie? cony. Lwo? w, Feb. 19, 1912.
F. Hoesick, Mi? os? c? w Z? yciu Zygmunta Krasin? skiego. Cracow,
1909.
II. CORRESPONDENCE OF KRASIN?
SKI
Correspondance de Sigismond Krasin? ski et de Henry Reeve.
Preface de J. Kallenbach. 2 vols. Paris, 1902.
Wyja? tki z Listo? w Zygmunta Krasin? skiego. Paris, i860.
Listy Zygmunta Krasin? skiego do Konstantego Gaszyn? skiego.
Lwo? w, 1882.
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? 3i6 Bibliographical Note
Listy Zygmunta Krasin? skiego do A dama So? tana. Lwo? w, 188 3.
Listy Zygmunta Krasin? skiego do J. S? owackiego, etc. Lwo? w,
1887.
Listy Zygmunta Krasin? skiego do Stanis? awa Ma? achowskiego.
Cracow, 1885.
Listy Zygmunta Krasin? skiego do Augusta Cieszkowskiego. 2
vols. Cracow, 1912.
Zygmunt Krasin? ski. Listy do St. Koz? miana. Lwo? w, 1912.
Zygmunt Krasin? ski i Ary Scheffer. Listy z Nieznanych
Re? kopiso? w. Ed. L. Wielisch. 1910.
Listy Zygmunta Krasin? skiego do Adama Potockiego. Ed. Adam
Krasin? ski. Biblioteka Warszawska. 1905.
Nieznane Listy Z. Krasin? skiego do Delfiny Potockiej. Ed.
R. S. Kamin? ski. Tygodnik /Ilustrowany. 1898, 1899.
III. WORKS OF KRASIN? SKI
Pisma Zygmunta Krasin? skiego. Wydanie Jubileuszowe. 8
vols. Cracow, 1912.
Zygmunt Krasin? ski. Pisma. 4 vols. Lwo? w, 1902 (with an
introduction by Count Tarnowski).
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? INDEX
Agay Han, 70, 90, 180
Alexander I, of Russia, 4; his treat-
ment of Poland, 13
Ary Scheffer, 247
Bielinski, 13-16
Bobrowa, Joanna, Krasinski's love for,
135-40, 150, 170, 174-9. 182, 183,
193, 194, 297; prayers composed by
Krasinski for, 172, 173; Krasinski's
poems to, 174; allusion to in Summer
Night, 182, 183 ; 208; 278 n.
Boissier, 29
Branicka, Elzbieta, see Krasinska
Brodzinski, 17
Byron, influence on Krasinski, 11, 26,
28, 34, 43, 55, 180, 190, 274; in-
fluence on Siowacki, 172
Campbell, 26
Carlo Alberto, 79
Chopin, love for Delphina Potocka,
192; dedicates work to Delphina
Potocka, 229
Cieszkowski, August, Krasinski's letters
to, 134 n. , 198, 209, 220, 223, 248,
249, 287 n. , 288, 310; Krasinski's
friendship for, 197, 248; his Our
Father, 197; influence on Krasinski,
197, 198, 206, 210
Czarniecki, in Dawn, 236-8
Danielewicz, Konstanty, defends Kra-
sinski, 16, 88, 221 n. ; in the Un-
finished Poem, 16, p1, 289-93, 297,
299, 301-3; friendship with Kra-
sinski, 16, 88-91, 140,170, 183, 208,
209, 219-22, 289, 291; influence on
Krasinski, 89, 221 and n. ; death,
183, 209, 219, 220, 221 n. , 223; in
Fry burg, 220-2
Dante, 119, 231, 289, 293-6
Dawn, 24, 89, 94, 133, 136, 141, 193,
206, 210, 218, 223-46, 252, 253, 276,
280
Dream of Cesara, The, 24, 198, 200-3,
and see Three Thoughts
Flahaut, 192
Fryburg, 220-2
Gaszynski, Konstanty, history, 8 and n. ;
friendship with Krasinski, 8, 12, 75,
77, 80, 91, 137 n. , 248, 289;
Krasinski's letters to, 8, 19,27, 65 n. ,
75-80, 86, 89-91, "137, 149, 167-70,
174, 176, 194n. , 209, 219, 248, 266,
276n. , 289; 9; defends Krasinski,
16, 75; 25; 181; 200; 223, 224
Goszczynski, 283
Hegel, influence on Krasinski, 199, 210
Iridion, 16n. , 21, 36, 55, 65 n. , 70, 72,
78, 83, 84, 94, 135, 139-69, 172,
180, 181, 184, 253, 307, 313
Irving, Edward, 72
Jadwiga, Queen of Poland, 204 n.
Jakubowski, 18, 35, 47, 48, 50
Jean Paul, influence on Krasinski, 180,
181, 184
Joachim, of Flora, influence on Kra-
sinski, 206
John Casimir, of Poland, 240 n.
Kamienski, Henryk, his Life-giving
? ? Truths, 255, 256, 258, 259, 261
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? 3i8
Index
32! 35; 38! son's struggle with
during Rising, 45-52, 54, 57, 59, 60,
67, 69, 76,182; son's sacrifice for, 53,
55, 64, 65n. ,66, 82, 182 ; 58n. ; 71;
74575 and n. ; 79; 80; 86; represented
in Undivine Comedy, 105-7, "o;
112; 138; 171; 179; 181 ; xaSummer
Night, 182 ; in Temptation, 191; 195;
208; 222 ; 223; 225 ; death, 312, 313;
son's attempted biography of, 313
Krasinski, Zygmunt, general character-
istics of life and work, r, 2; work for
Poland, 1, 2, 65-7, 79, 80, 179, 183,
184, 189, 230, 238, 251-3, 255, 260,
268, 269, 277, 282, 285, 304; early
incapacity/or verse, 1, 11, 26, 32 ; his
anonymity, 1, 55, 61, 64, 65 n. , 66,
76. 77. 79. 8o. 9? . 9i, 94. 1? 7. 149.
167, 181, 185, 223, 246, 256, 270;
birth, 2, 3; relations with father, 2,
4-6, 10, 18, 20, 21, 45-9, 77, 81, 82,
no, 170, 175, 177, 182, 208, 249,
250; his mother, 2-5, 47, 49, 106,
1n; childhood, 3-7, 105-7; cdt of
Napoleon, 3, 30, 225, 226, 300;
character, 4, 8, 9, 12, 13, 15, 17, 20,
26-8, 30, 32, 40, 50, 69, 76, 88, 89,
106, 1n, 112, 136, 138, 170, 171,
178, 183, 221, 222, 224, 234, 250,
254; his devotion to his country, 5-8,
15, 19-21, 24, 26, 28, 31, 32, 39-41,
45-9. 53-5. 57-65. 69n. , 72, 74, 78,
80, 82, 140, 161, 172, 176, 180, 181,
183, 187, 194, 200, 229, 238, 246,
253, 265-8, 272, 277, 282, 285, 304,
310; contrast with Mickiewicz, 5,
33. 253, 282, 283; early Polish
writings, 7, 10, 11, 17, 25, 34; life
at school, 7,8; influenced by Scott, 7,
9, II, 17; friendship with Gaszynski,
8, 12, 16, 75, 77, 80,91, 137n. , 248,
289; letters to Gaszynski, 8, 19, 27,
65n-. 75-8o, 86, 89-91, 137, 149,
167-70, 174, 176, 194^, 209, 219,
248, 266, 276 n. , 289; his blindness,
8, 48, 54. 74"83, 87, 89, 92, 107,
1n, 112 n. , 171, 289, 310; life as
University student, 8-10, 12; love for
Amelia Zatuska, 9, 10, 81, 135;
letters to Reeve, 10, 16n. , 18, 22,
23, 27-32, 35-44. 49. 5! -63. 64n. ,
6567-74. 69 n. , 75 n. , 79-88,
89 n. , 91, 96, no, 135-7. 139. r4? .
150, 169, 175, 179, 182; on Konrad
Wallenrod, 11; struggle with hatred,
n, 70-2, 84, 140, 167, 196; in-
fluenced by Byron, 11, 26, 28, 34,
43. 55. 18? . 190. 274; letters to
father, n, 12, 19-21, 26, 33. 45-8.
59, 60, 72, 73, 75, 135, 170, 176,
177, 181; episode in University, 15-
17, 70,75,88, 221 n. , 292; friendship
with Danielewicz, 16,88-91, 140, 170,
183, 208, 209, 219-22, 221 n. , 289,
290, 292 ; removed from University,
17 ; last days in Poland, id. ; leaves
Poland, 17-19; life at Geneva, 19-32;
? ? friendship with Reeve, 20, 22, 23
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? Index
319
audience with Nicholas I, 86, 87,
187; journey from Petersburg, 87,
88; stay in Vienna, 88-91; journey
to Rome with Danielewicz, 91; his
conception of poetry, 95-7 ; 96 n. ; his
portrayal of women, 99, 152; his
artistic restraint, 104, 144, 145; as a
husband, 106, 249-51, 287 and n. ,
288, 307; love the root of his system,
116, 158, 166, 261, 279, 302; letters
to Cieszkowski, 13411, 198, 209,
220, 223, 248, 249, 287 n. , 288, 310;
winter 1833-4 in Rome, 135, 136;
love for Mme Bobrowa, [35-40,
150, 170, 174-9. 182, 183, 193, 194,
297; friendship withSoitan, 137, 138,
171, 207, 310; friendship with
Siowacki, 172, 278; temporary loss
of inspiration, 172, 180; writes book
of prayers for Mme Bobrowa, 172,
173; his first poems, 174, 175; his
spiritual resurrection, 174, 193-5,
197, 207, 209, 222-5, 230, 231, 245,
256, 280; return in 1838 to Poland,
176, 177; letters to Adam Potocki,
178, 179, 19411. ; leaves Poland, 179;
influenced by Jean Paul, 180,181,184;
letters to Stowacki, 183, 207; letters
toDelphina Potocka, 193, 194 and n. ,
195, 206, n. 221 and 222, 247, 268;
friendship with Cieszkowski, 197,
248; influenced by Cieszkowski, 197,
198, 206, 210; influenced by Hegel,
199, 210; by Schelling, 206, 210; on
the three epochs, 206, 210-6; his
marriage, 208, 222, 223, 247, 271;
winter of 1841-2 in Munich, 208,
209; letters to Matachowski, 209,
265, 266; on transition, 211-4, 216,
295; on the Christianization of
political relations, 212-5, 216, 227-9,
245, 302; his historical mysticism,
215, 216, 224-7; his theory on iden-
tification of individual with national
mysticism, 218, 230, 257, 281;
effect of Danielewicz's death on, 219,
220, 221 n. , 222, 223; finishes Dawn
at Nice, 223; friendship with Mata-
chowski, 223; sojourn in Poland after
marriage, 249-52, 254; attitude to
revolution, 254, 255, 286; clear
political vision, 254, 300 n. , 311;
effect of Galician massacres on, 265,
266, 268, 276, 277; on annexation of
Cracow, 207; letters to Trentowski,
267-9! letters to Kozmian, 267, 268,
288, 305 n. , 310, 311; friendship with
Kozmian, 267,268,310; attack of Sto-
wacki on, 277-9, 3? 3 , 27" n. , appeals
to Montalembert, Lamartine and Pius
IX, 286; as a father, 287, 288; his
domestic circle, 288, 289; last years,
306-12; poems to wife, 306-9;
appeals to Grand Duchess of Baden
and Napoleon III, 311; his last
verses, 312 ; effect of father's death
on, 3I3, attempts to write his father's
? ? biography, id. ; death, id. ; moral
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