Selected Poems of Cyprian Norwid
2004
First Published
3.86
Average Rating
104
Number of Pages
Poetry Book Society Recommended Translation Cyprian Norwid, born in 1821 near Warsaw, is one of the most innovative and idiosyncratic figures in Polish literature. His unique poetry is now recognized as among Poland's finest. Largely self-taught, he left Poland at the age of 21, moving widely around Europe - befriended by Chopin among others - before travelling to America. Persistently dogged by financial crises, he was forced to return to Paris in 1854. There he spent the rest of his life, dying in a hostel for Polish insurrection veterans in Ivry in 1883. Norwid's work is introduced by Bogdan Czaykowski, the eminent Polish poet, who is also a noted scholar and critic. Adam Czerniawski, born in Warsaw in 1934, has translated widely from Polish (including Tadeusz Rózewicz's selected poetry, They Came to See a Poet, also from Anvil) as well as publishing poetry, stories, criticism and a memoir in his first language. He has lived in Palestine, Lebanon, Germany, England and Scotland, working in a variety of academic and literary posts.
Avg Rating
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Author
Cyprian Kamil Norwid
Author · 8 books
Polish poet, dramatist, prosaist, essayist, philosopher, painter and sculptor. An outsider, despite his acquaintance with the famous - Chopin, Mickiewicz, Słowacki and Krasiński, he remained underestimated to be finally appreciated in the XX century. Censorship in partitioned Poland forced him to live in Paris. His work included hundreds of poems, some prose, dramas, sketches, paintings and sculptures. His early unfulfilled love formed his style, full of sensitivity. Since then he was mostly lonely, with the first of two other known romances occurring at age of 47. His main interests were writing style, polish society and morality. He spent all money on works of art and journeys to live in London, Berlin, New York and, mostly, Paris.
