Cyprian Norwid

Dorota Michulka (Wroclaw University, Anglistyka)
Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error

Cyprian Kamil Norwid represented the so-called second generation of the Romantics in the Polish literature. He had a strong sense of generational belonging and was acutely aware of his generation’s distinctiveness (often referred to as the orphan generation, or the lost generation, or the generation whose youth was “turned into despair”). He was an “accursed poet” (

poete maudit

), a Baudelaire-like figure, at once an heir to Romanticism and its rebellious critic, an avant-garde artist professing a duality of opinion. His polemics with the patriotic philosophy of Romanticism came down to a critique of the idea of martyrdom, of armed fighting, of sacrifice in general, as well as to a negation of messianism, and a disavowal of the idea of subordinating individual fates to higher…

3401 words

Citation: Michulka, Dorota. "Cyprian Norwid". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 15 July 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12255, accessed 19 March 2024.]

12255 Cyprian Norwid 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.