Malczewski, Antoni

▪ Polish poet

born June 3, 1793, Warsaw [Poland] or Knyaginino [Ukraine]

died May 2, 1826, Warsaw

      one of the first Polish Romantic poets. His single, superb poem gave him a lasting reputation in Polish literature.

      Belonging to a wealthy military and landholding family, Malczewski was educated at the lycée of Krzemieniec in Volhynia and then served in the Napoleonic Polish army of the duchy of Warsaw. When in 1815 the major part of the duchy became the kingdom of Poland with the Russian czar as its king, Malczewski was demobilized. He traveled in western Europe but eventually settled in 1821 in Ukraine (formerly Volhynia), where he became entangled in an unhappy emotional affair with a beautiful woman who suffered from a nervous illness. Compelled by social pressure, Malczewski left Ukraine. She followed him, and they settled in Warsaw.

      In 1825 he published a long poem, Maria (Marya: A Tale of the Ukraine), which constitutes his only contribution to Polish poetry but occupies a permanent place there as a widely imitated example of the so-called Polish-Ukrainian poetic school. In the poem, Wacław, a young husband, goes to fight the Tatars and, after routing the raiders, hurries home to his wife, Maria. All he finds is a cold corpse. The poem makes use of diversified rhythms and carefully chosen rhymes; and its Byronic hero, as well as its picture of Ukraine as a land of sombre charm, assured Malczewski both popularity and critical applause.

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