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Polish Poetry during the Last War

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2017

Zbigniew Folejewski
Zbigniew Folejewski*
Affiliation:
Upsala University
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Extract

Many literary works would never have existed if there had not been tragedy in the lives of their authors. In moments of extreme unhappiness in the life of a man or nation, art often blossoms and gives inspiration for the fight against fate. The arts, especially poetry, then sometimes reach heights unattainable under normal conditions.

In Poland, in periods of war and occupation, literature has always helped to keep alive the patriotism and fighting-spirit of the people. When war has forced a great number of Poles to live in exile, Polish literature, too, has divided into two currents. Writers in exile have created inspired and profound works, especially in poetry. Works written by those who stayed at home were, in general, of less artistic value and more realistic: they were pictures of hard and bitter life.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Slavic and East European Review , Volume 10 , Issue 3 , October 1951 , pp. 216 - 225
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies 1951

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References

1 Antologia poezji współczesnej. Wydana w podziemnej Warszawie (London, 1942), first printed in Warsaw in 1940 under the false name, Narcyz Kwiatek, and false date, 1937.

2 Mackie, Albert, A Call from Warsaw (Glasgow, 1944).Google Scholar

3 See, for example, Stobodnik, W., Horn w Ferganie, Poezje napisane w Uzbekistanie w latach wojny 1941–1945 (“The House in Fergana, Poetry written in Uzbekistan 1941-1945“) (Łódź, 1946)Google Scholar; Dobrowolski, S. R., Pioro na wichrze (“The Pen in the Gale“) (Warsaw, 1947)Google Scholar; and L. Szenwald, W boju (“In the Fight“) (place of publication not given, 1946).

4 The most important is Miłosz, C., Ocalenie (“The Rescue“) (Warsaw, 1946)Google Scholar. Further we have Rymkiewicz, A., Z narodem (“With the People“) (Warsaw, 1947)Google Scholar; Zagórski, J., Wieczór w Wieliszewie (“The Evening in Wieliszewo“) (Warsaw, 1947)Google Scholar; J. Braun, Ballada o Warszawie (“The Ballad about Warsaw“) (Warsaw, 1946), first printed in the underground press.

5 For example, Staff, L., Wiersze wybrane (“Selected Poems“) (Warsaw, 1948)Google Scholar; A. Ważyk, Poezje (“Poetry“) (Warsaw, 1950); Pezyboś, J., Wybór poezji (“Selected Poetry“) (Warsaw, 1949)Google Scholar.

6 Losy (Warsaw, 1948) and i; batalionów (Warsaw, 1948).

7 First and Last Poems, tr. L. E. Gielgud (London, 1947).

8 Pieśń ujdzie cało, ed. M. M. Borwicz (Warsaw, 1947).

9 For example, Tuwi, J.m, Wybór poezji 1919-1939 (“Selected Poetry 1919-1939“) (Warsaw, 1947)Google Scholar and Kwiaty polskie (“Polish Flowers“) (Warsaw, 1949; 2nd edition, 1950); W. Broniewski, Wiersze zebrane (“Collected Poems“) (Warsaw, 1948), a second edition in 1949, third edition in 1950; K. Iłłakowiczówna, Wiersze wybrane 1912-1941 (“Selected Poetry 1912-1947“) (Lodz, 1949).

10 See his poem, “Magnitogorsk,” in the volume, Krzyk ostateczny (“The Final Cry“) (Warsaw, 1939). Note that his poem Komuna paryska (“The Paris Commune“) was confiscated in Poland in 1929; a second edition of it came out after the war (Warsaw, 1947).

11 Broniewski, W., “Rozmowa z historią” (“A Talk with History“) in Wybór poezji (Jerusalem, 1944).Google Scholar

12 Also in Wybór poezji.

13 See Drzewo rozpaczajqce (“The Despairing Tree“) (London, 1945).

14 It will not be easy for future historians of literature to decipher the poetry of Broniewski, since collected works in the West omit his “pro-Soviet” poems like “Magnitogorsk,” and those in post-war Poland exclude the “anti-Soviet” poems, “The Talk with History,” “The Chestnut Tree,” and “The Road.“

15 So far as I know, nobody has tried to do this before. I myself have published an essay and a short anthology in Swedish, “SI lange vi leva. Polsk lyrik 1939-1945“ in Svio-Polonica, Vol. VI-VII (Stockholm, 1944-1945). An anthology, Antologia poezji pohkiej, was also published in Paris, 1946, by S. Lam.

16 Much of the Polish poetry of that time was published in the periodical, Wiadomosci Polskie, edited in Paris, later in London. Especially the first number (March 17, 1940) is an important literary document.

17 “Warszawie,” Dziennik Polski i Dziennik Źołnierza, No. 207 (London, 1944).

18 “Literatura emigracji walczącej,” Wiadomości Polskie, I, No. i (Paris, 1940). “Wooded hills and green meadows” is a quotation from Mickiewicz: “Do tych pagórków leśnych, do tych łąk zielonych… . “

19 It has been printed in Nowa Pohka (“Polish Monthly“), Vol. I, No. 7 (London, 1942)Google Scholar; cf. Tuwim, J. Kwiaty Pohkie (2nd ed., Warsaw, 1950), pp. 290–301.Google Scholar