Polish literature is the literary tradition of Poland. Most Polish literature has been written in the Polish language, though other languages used in Poland over the centuries have also contributed to Polish literary traditions, including Latin, Yiddish, Lithuanian, Russian, German and Esperanto. According to Czesław Miłosz, for centuries Polish literature focused more on drama and poetic self-expression than on fiction (dominant in the English speaking world). The reasons were manifold but mostly rested on the historical circumstances of the nation. Polish writers typically have had a more profound range of choices to motivate them to write, including past cataclysms of extraordinary violence that swept Poland (as the crossroads of Europe), but also, Poland's collective incongruities demanding an adequate reaction from the writing communities of any given period.Czesław Miłosz, The History of Polish Literature. Google Books preview. University of California Press, Berkeley, 1983. . "Experience Poland: Polish culture", "Polska" official promotional website of the Republic of Poland. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2008–2011.
The period of Polish Enlightenment began in the 1730s–40s and peaked in the second half of the 18th century. Leading Polish Enlightenment authors included Ignacy Krasicki (1735–1801) and Jan Potocki (1761–1815). Polish Romanticism, unlike Romanticism elsewhere in Europe, was largely a movement for independence against the foreign occupation. Early Polish Romantics were heavily influenced by other European Romantics. Notable writers included Adam Mickiewicz, Seweryn Goszczyński, Tomasz Zan and Maurycy Mochnacki. In the second period, many Polish Romantics worked abroad. Influential poets included Adam Mickiewicz, Juliusz Słowacki and Zygmunt Krasiński.
In the aftermath of the failed January uprising, the new period of Polish Positivism began to advocate skepticism and the exercise of reason. The modernist period known as the Young Poland movement in visual arts, literature and music, came into being around 1890, and concluded with the Poland's return to independence (1918). Notable authors included Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer, Stanisław Przybyszewski and Jan Kasprowicz. The neo-Romantic era was exemplified by the works of Stefan Żeromski, Władysław Reymont, Gabriela Zapolska, and Stanisław Wyspiański. In 1905 Henryk Sienkiewicz received a Nobel Prize in literature, inspiring a new sense of hope. Literature of the Second Polish Republic (1918–1939) encompasses a short, though exceptionally dynamic period in Polish literary consciousness. The socio-political reality has changed radically with Poland's return to independence. New avant-garde writers included Julian Tuwim, Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, Witold Gombrowicz, Czesław Miłosz, Maria Dąbrowska and Zofia Nałkowska.
In the World War II years of German and Soviet occupation of Poland, all artistic life was dramatically compromised. Cultural institutions were lost. Out of 1,500 clandestine publications in Poland, about 200 were devoted to literature. Much of Polish literature written during the Occupation of Poland appeared in print only after the conclusion of World War II, including books by Nałkowska, Rudnicki, Borowski and others. The situation began to worsen dramatically around 1949–1950 with the introduction of the Stalinist doctrine by the Minister of Culture and Art Włodzimierz Sokorski. Poland had three Nobel Prize winning authors in the later 20th century: Isaac Bashevis Singer (1978), Czesław Miłosz (1980) and Wisława Szymborska (1996). In the early 21st century, yet another writer was awarded the Prize: Olga Tokarczuk (2018).
Middle Ages Almost nothing remains of Polish literature prior to the country's Christianization in 966. Poland's pagan inhabitants certainly possessed an oral literature extending to Slavic songs, legends and beliefs, but early Christian writers did not deem it worthy of mention in the obligatory Latin, and so it has perished.
Within the Polish literary tradition, it is customary to include works that have dealt with Poland, even if not written by ethnic Poles. This is the case with Gallus Anonymus, the first historian to have described Poland in his work entitled Cronicae et gesta ducum sive principum Polonorum (Deeds of the Princes of the Poles), composed in sophisticated Latin. Gallus was a foreign monk who accompanied King Bolesław III Wrymouth in his return from Hungary to Poland. The important tradition of Polish historiography was continued by Wincenty Kadłubek, a thirteenth-century Bishop of Kraków, as well as Jan Długosz, a Polish priest and secretary to Bishop Zbigniew Oleśnicki.
The first recorded sentence in the Polish language reads: "Day ut ia pobrusa, a ti poziwai" ("Let me grind, and you take a rest") – a paraphrase of the Latin "Sine, ut ego etiam molam." The work in which this phrase appeared reflects the culture of early Poland. The sentence was written within the Latin language chronicle Liber fundationis from between 1269 and 1273, a history of the Cistercian monastery in Henryków, Silesia. It was recorded by an abbot known simply as Piotr (Peter), referring to an event almost a hundred years earlier. The sentence was supposedly uttered by a Bohemian settler, Bogwal ("Bogwalus Boemus"), a subject of Bolesław the Tall, expressing compassion for his own wife who "very often stood grinding by the quern-stone." Most notable early medieval Polish works in Latin and the Old Polish language include the oldest extant manuscript of fine prose in the Polish language entitled the Holy Cross Sermons, as well as the earliest Polish-language Bible of Queen Zofia and the from the 14th century, not to mention the .
Most early texts in Polish vernacular were influenced heavily by the Latin sacred literature. They include Bogurodzica (Mother of God), a hymn in praise of the Virgin Mary written down in the 15th century, although popular at least a century earlier. Bogurodzica served as a national anthem. It was one of the first texts reproduced in Polish on a printing press; and so was the Master Polikarp's Conversation with Death (Rozmowa mistrza Polikarpa ze śmiercią). At that time several Catholic Marian songs were written, with many of them being considered the most notable art pieces of the Medieval polish literature, including Lament of the Holy Cross that presents Mary in more humane and emotional way. Also, various hagiographic legends were created and Legenda o świętym Aleksym (The Legend of the Saint Alexius) is considered the most prominent. The legend treats about the figure of the Saint Alexius that chose the path of lifelong asceticism as a sacrifice of worldly goods in the name of God.
In the early 1470s, one of the first printing houses in Poland was set up by Kasper Straube in Kraków (see: spread of the printing press). In 1475 Kasper Elyan of Głogów (Glogau) set up a printing shop in Wrocław (Breslau), Silesia. Twenty years later, the first Cyrillic printing house was founded at Kraków by Schweipolt Fiol for Eastern Orthodox Church hierarchs. The most notable texts produced in that period include Saint Florian's Breviary, printed partially in Polish in the late 14th century; Statua synodalia Wratislaviensia (1475): a printed collection of Polish and Latin prayers; as well as Jan Długosz's Chronicle from the 15th century and his Catalogus archiepiscoporum Gnesnensium.
Renaissance With the advent of the Renaissance, the Polish language was finally accepted on an equal footing with Latin. Polish culture and art flourished under Jagiellonian rule, and many foreign poets and writers settled in Poland, bringing with them new literary trends. Such writers included Kallimach (Filippo Buonaccorsi) and Conrad Celtis. Many Polish writers studied abroad, and at the Kraków Academy, which became a melting pot for new ideas and currents. In 1488, the world's first literary society, the Sodalitas Litterarum Vistulana (Vistula Literary Society) was founded in Kraków. Notable members included Conrad Celtes, Albert Brudzewski, Filip Callimachus and Laurentius Corvinus.
A Polish writer who used Latin as his principal vehicle of expression was Klemens Janicki (Ianicius), who became one of the most notable Latin poets of his time and was laureled by the Pope. Other writers such as Mikołaj Rej,The Mikołaj Rej collection, with biography and body of works. National Digital Library (Cyfrowa Biblioteka Narodowa Polona), 2006. and Jan Kochanowski, laid the foundations for the Polish literary language and modern Polish grammar. The first book written entirely in the Polish language appeared in this period – It was a prayer-book by Biernat of Lublin (c. 1465 – after 1529) called Raj duszny (Hortulus Animae, Eden of the Soul), printed in Kraków in 1513 at one of Poland's first printing establishments, operated by Florian Ungler (originally from Bavaria). The most notable Polish writers and poets active in the 16th century include: Mikołaj Hussowski (Hussowczyk, 1480?–1533?) Andrzej Krzycki (1482–1537) Johannes Dantiscus (1485–1548) Jan Łaski (1499–1560), Communae Poloniae Regni privilegium Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski (1503–1572), De Republica emendanda Mikołaj Rej (1505–1569), Krótka rozprawa... Klemens Janicki (Ianicius, 1516–1542) Łukasz Górnicki (1524–1603) Jan Kochanowski (1530–1584), Laments Piotr Skarga (1536–1612) Bartosz Paprocki (1543?–1614), historiographer, genealogist Szymon Szymonowic (1558–1629) Daniel Naborowski (1573–1640) Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski (1595–1640)
Baroque The literature in the period of Polish BaroqueStanisław Barańczak, Baroque in Polish poetry of the 17th century. Instytut Książki, Poland. Retrieved 17 September 2011. (between 1620 and 1764) was significantly influenced by the great popularization of Jesuit high schools, which offered education based on Latin classics as part of a preparation for a political career. The studies of poetry required the practical knowledge of writing both Latin and Polish poems, which radically increased the number of poets and versifiers countrywide. On the soil of humanistic education some exceptional writers grew as well: Piotr Kochanowski (1566–1620) gave his translation of Torquato Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered; Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski, a poet laureate, became known among European nations as Horatius christianus (Christian Horace) for his Latin writings; Jan Andrzej Morsztyn (1621–1693), an epicurean courtier and diplomat, extolled in his sophisticated poems the valors of earthly delights; and Wacław Potocki (1621–1696), the most productive writer of the Polish Baroque, unified the typical opinions of Polish szlachta with some deeper reflections and existential experiences. Notable Polish writers and poets active in this period include: Sebastian Grabowiecki (1543–1607) Mikołaj Sęp Szarzyński (1550–1581), Rymy Kasper Miaskowski (1550?–1622) Piotr Kochanowski (1566–1620) Daniel Naborowski (1573–1640) Hieronim Morsztyn (1581–1623) Szymon Starowolski (1588–1656) Kasper Twardowski (c. 1592 – c. 1641), Lekcyje Kupidynowe (Cupid's Lessons) Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski (1595–1640) Józef Bartłomiej Zimorowic (1597–1677) Samuel Twardowski (1600?–1661) Szymon Zimorowic (1608?–1629), Roksolanki Krzysztof Opaliński (1611–1655) Łukasz Opaliński (1612–1666) Jan Andrzej Morsztyn (1621–1693), leading Baroque poet Wacław Potocki (1621–1696), Wojna Chocimska Zbigniew Morsztyn (Morstyn, 1628?–1689) Stanisław Grochowski (1633–1645) Jan Chryzostom Pasek (1636–1701), Pamietniki (memoirs) Jan z Kijan (Dzwonowski?, early 1600s)Karol Badecki, "Pisma Jana Dzwonowskiego (1608–1625)." Wydawnictwa Akademii Umiejętności w Krakowie. Biblioteka Pisarzów Polskich. Kraków. Nakładem Akademii Umiejętności. 1910. 119s.
Enlightenment