Mickiewicz i Ukraina. Wymiar kulturowy i estetyczny. Rewizja

Abstract

In studies devoted to the greatest Polish poet of the 19th century, the Romantic Adam Mickiewicz (1897–1855), the prevailing thesis is that he was inextricably linked to Lithuania, the northern part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (Nowogródek, Vilnius, Kaunas). This paper attempts to revise this view. First of all, it points out that the poet was the bearer of a certain form of identity, which it calls the ‘identity of the Republic’. It integrated in a single patriotic formula all local identities, including those of: Greater Poland, Lithuanian, Samogitian, Ukrainian, Livonian, etc. During his studies in Vilnius, the young Mickiewicz emphasised the Ukrainian origin of his friends (Józef Jeżowski) in comparison to his Lithuanian background. Secondly, Mickiewicz’s poetic image of Lithuania is shaped by the image of Ukraine painted by the Polish classicist poet Stanisław Trembecki (ca. 1739–1812), author of the descriptive poem Sofijówka (1806). Making his début in 1822 with a romantic volume of Poetry in Vilnius, Mickiewicz also published Explanations to the descriptive poem Sofijówka. He imitated this work in his youthful poem entitled Kartofla, describing the story of Columbus’s discovery of America in a humorous way. He used the descriptive, narrative skills acquired at the time, based on the image of Ukraine from the poem Sofijówka, in his epic poem Pan Tadeusz (1834).