Dziady (poem)
Encyclopedia
Dziady (ˈdʑadɨ, Halloween) is a poetic drama by the Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz
. It is considered one of the great works of European Romanticism
. To George Sand
and George Brandes, Dziady was a supreme realization of Romantic drama theory, to be ranked with such works as Goethe's Faust
and Byron's Manfred
.
The drama's title refers to Dziady
, an ancient Slavic
and Lithuania
n feast commemorating the dead (the "forefathers"). The drama comprises four parts, the first of which was never finished. Parts I, II and IV were influenced by Gothic fiction
and Byron's poetry. Part III joins historiosophical and individual visions of pain and annexation, especially under the 18th-century partitions of Poland. Part III was written ten years after the others and differs greatly from them. The first to have been composed is "Dziady, Part II," dedicated chiefly to the Dziady
slavic feast of commemoration of the dead which laid the foundations of the poem and is celebrated in what is now Belarus
.
A ban on the performance of the play was an aspect of the 1968 Polish political crisis.
Part II
In this part, Mickiewicz expressed a philosophy of life, based mainly on folk morality and on his own thoughts about love and death. In the drama, Lithuanian peasants are summoning ghosts to ensure them the access to heaven. First ones, ghosts of two children, cannot get there, because they had never suffered. Then appears a phantom of a cruel squire. He is persecuted by birds - they are obliged not to let him eat, because as a living person, he did not act like a human being. The next ghost is a phantom of Zosia, a young, beautiful shepherdess. Her fault is that she had never returned anybody's love, and love is needed to the act of salvation.
The last ghost is the most interesting one. He resembles the main hero of the IV part (Gustaw).
Part IV
The IV part is believed to be Mickiewicz's manifesto of his romantic philosophy of life, and also a story about his love to Maryla Wereszczakówna. The main reason for associating bard's and his hero's biography is the resemblance of what Gustaw (the protagonist of the drama) says about his tragic youth. He met a fine girl, with whom he fell in love. Unfortunately, she married a rich duke and, subsequently, Gustaw committed a suicide. Similar situation took place in poet's life, but he managed to forgive his lover. When he was depressed,he wrote the IV part of "Dziady", one of the most beautiful Polish poems about love and also a fascinating example of the romantic poetry.
The action of the drama is divided into three episodes - the hour of love, the hour of despair and the hour of admonition. The book shows dangers of people's romantic nature and reading sentimental masterpieces, which do not show the real world. On the other hand, Gustaw is presented as an owner of the methaphysical knowledge. It is him, not his teacher who eventually notions to the philosophy of Enlightenment and visualises the true picture of the world, which is the reality conducted by paranormal laws.
Part I
First part, published after Mickiewicz's emigration to France
, was probably written in the early 20s, though never finished. Meant to be a picture of "emotion of the 19th century people", it was immediately given up by the author. It shows young girl and boy, feeling confused with and trying to choose between the sentimental idea of love, adjustment to the society and respect to own nature.
Part III
This part is thought to be the most significant one, or even one of the finest poems in the Polish literature
. The main character bear a resemblance to Gustaw from the IV part, but he is no longer a 'romantic lover'. The drama was written after the fail of the November Insurrection, an event which exerted a huge influence over the author. In the Prologue the protagonist of the drama writes on the wall "Today Gustaw has died, today Conrad was born". Conrad is a name from the previous Mickiewicz's novel, "Conrad Wallenrod". Wallenrod was the hero who sacrificed his life and happiness for his own country's sake.
Mickiewicz dedicated his work for people fighting for Polish freedom in the 1830s insurrection and especially for those, who were exiled to Siberia by the Russian emperor. The book describes cruelty of Alexander, the emperor, and persecutioning of Poles. It has many mysterious episodes and, among historical characters, reader can find ghosts, angels and also the devil. Poland, according to Mickiewicz's visions, was meant to be "Christ
of Europe" and the national suffering was to result in releasing all persecuted people and nationalities, as Christ's death have brought salvation.
The characters of the drama are chiefly prisoners, accused of conspiracy against the Russian conqueror. The self-named protagonist is called Conrad. He is a poet. In his vision, commonly known as "Wielka Improwizacja" - "The great Improvisation" - he is talking to God about his patriotic feelings and the intention of becoming a leader of the nation. His love and suffering makes him a symbol of a Polish soul. Nevertheless, in God's opinion he is too proud to free his country. Another character, a priest called Piotr, has also a vision. When he happens to foretell the country's future, he says one of the most mysterious words of the whole drama. Describing a person who will bring back the freedom of Poland, he says:
"The Son of a foreign mother, in his blood old heroes
And his name will be forty and four".
The whole drama brings back the hope of Polish independence and gives a great picture of Polish society in so difficult a moment. For instance, recognizable words are:
"Our nation is like lava. On the top it is hard and hideous, but its internal fire cannot be extinguished even in one hundred years of coldness. So let's spit on the crust and go down, to the profundity!"
and romantic message of part IV, as well as deeply patriotic
, messianistic
and christian
vision in part III. Zdzisław Kępiński, however, focuses his interpretation on Slavic pagan and occult
elements found in the drama. In his book Mickiewicz hermetyczny he writes about hermetic
, theosophic
and alchemical
philosophy on the book as well as Masonic
symbols (including controversial theory of Mickiewicz being a communist
).
's Teatr Miejski (City Theater) in 1901, directed by Stanisław Wyspiański.
After the communist takeover of Poland, the new government discouraged the staging of Dziady. The first postwar production, a major cultural event, opened in November 1945, during the 1945-46 theater season, at Teatr Miejski in Opole
. It was guest-directed by Jerzy Ronard Bujanski of Teatr Stary (the Old Theater) in Kraków, who also starred as Konrad.
Three years later, Leon Schiller
began work on a production of Dziady at Teatr Polski (the Polish Theater) in Warsaw. The opening night was planned for December 1948, but was canceled for a number of reasons, some political.
The next production of Dziady in post-World War II Poland was staged only after Joseph Stalin
's death and took place in November 1955 at Warsaw's Teatr Polski.
Adam Mickiewicz
Adam Bernard Mickiewicz ) was a Polish poet, publisher and political writer of the Romantic period. One of the primary representatives of the Polish Romanticism era, a national poet of Poland, he is seen as one of Poland's Three Bards and the greatest poet in all of Polish literature...
. It is considered one of the great works of European Romanticism
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
. To George Sand
George Sand
Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin, later Baroness Dudevant , best known by her pseudonym George Sand , was a French novelist and memoirist.-Life:...
and George Brandes, Dziady was a supreme realization of Romantic drama theory, to be ranked with such works as Goethe's Faust
Faust
Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend; a highly successful scholar, but also dissatisfied with his life, and so makes a deal with the devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. Faust's tale is the basis for many literary, artistic, cinematic, and musical...
and Byron's Manfred
Manfred
Manfred is a dramatic poem written in 1816–1817 by Lord Byron. It contains supernatural elements, in keeping with the popularity of the ghost story in England at the time. It is a typical example of a Romantic closet drama...
.
The drama's title refers to Dziady
Dziady
Dziady was an ancient Slavic feast to commemorate the dead. Literally, the word is translated as "Grandfathers". It was held twice every year . During the feast the ancient Slavs organized libations and ritual meals...
, an ancient Slavic
Slavic peoples
The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...
and Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
n feast commemorating the dead (the "forefathers"). The drama comprises four parts, the first of which was never finished. Parts I, II and IV were influenced by Gothic fiction
Gothic fiction
Gothic fiction, sometimes referred to as Gothic horror, is a genre or mode of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance. Gothicism's origin is attributed to English author Horace Walpole, with his 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto, subtitled "A Gothic Story"...
and Byron's poetry. Part III joins historiosophical and individual visions of pain and annexation, especially under the 18th-century partitions of Poland. Part III was written ten years after the others and differs greatly from them. The first to have been composed is "Dziady, Part II," dedicated chiefly to the Dziady
Dziady
Dziady was an ancient Slavic feast to commemorate the dead. Literally, the word is translated as "Grandfathers". It was held twice every year . During the feast the ancient Slavs organized libations and ritual meals...
slavic feast of commemoration of the dead which laid the foundations of the poem and is celebrated in what is now Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
.
A ban on the performance of the play was an aspect of the 1968 Polish political crisis.
The parts
The drama's four parts are described below in the order of their composition.Part II
In this part, Mickiewicz expressed a philosophy of life, based mainly on folk morality and on his own thoughts about love and death. In the drama, Lithuanian peasants are summoning ghosts to ensure them the access to heaven. First ones, ghosts of two children, cannot get there, because they had never suffered. Then appears a phantom of a cruel squire. He is persecuted by birds - they are obliged not to let him eat, because as a living person, he did not act like a human being. The next ghost is a phantom of Zosia, a young, beautiful shepherdess. Her fault is that she had never returned anybody's love, and love is needed to the act of salvation.
The last ghost is the most interesting one. He resembles the main hero of the IV part (Gustaw).
Part IV
The IV part is believed to be Mickiewicz's manifesto of his romantic philosophy of life, and also a story about his love to Maryla Wereszczakówna. The main reason for associating bard's and his hero's biography is the resemblance of what Gustaw (the protagonist of the drama) says about his tragic youth. He met a fine girl, with whom he fell in love. Unfortunately, she married a rich duke and, subsequently, Gustaw committed a suicide. Similar situation took place in poet's life, but he managed to forgive his lover. When he was depressed,he wrote the IV part of "Dziady", one of the most beautiful Polish poems about love and also a fascinating example of the romantic poetry.
The action of the drama is divided into three episodes - the hour of love, the hour of despair and the hour of admonition. The book shows dangers of people's romantic nature and reading sentimental masterpieces, which do not show the real world. On the other hand, Gustaw is presented as an owner of the methaphysical knowledge. It is him, not his teacher who eventually notions to the philosophy of Enlightenment and visualises the true picture of the world, which is the reality conducted by paranormal laws.
Part I
First part, published after Mickiewicz's emigration to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, was probably written in the early 20s, though never finished. Meant to be a picture of "emotion of the 19th century people", it was immediately given up by the author. It shows young girl and boy, feeling confused with and trying to choose between the sentimental idea of love, adjustment to the society and respect to own nature.
Part III
This part is thought to be the most significant one, or even one of the finest poems in the Polish literature
Polish literature
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 Yiddish, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, German and...
. The main character bear a resemblance to Gustaw from the IV part, but he is no longer a 'romantic lover'. The drama was written after the fail of the November Insurrection, an event which exerted a huge influence over the author. In the Prologue the protagonist of the drama writes on the wall "Today Gustaw has died, today Conrad was born". Conrad is a name from the previous Mickiewicz's novel, "Conrad Wallenrod". Wallenrod was the hero who sacrificed his life and happiness for his own country's sake.
Mickiewicz dedicated his work for people fighting for Polish freedom in the 1830s insurrection and especially for those, who were exiled to Siberia by the Russian emperor. The book describes cruelty of Alexander, the emperor, and persecutioning of Poles. It has many mysterious episodes and, among historical characters, reader can find ghosts, angels and also the devil. Poland, according to Mickiewicz's visions, was meant to be "Christ
Christ
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
of Europe" and the national suffering was to result in releasing all persecuted people and nationalities, as Christ's death have brought salvation.
The characters of the drama are chiefly prisoners, accused of conspiracy against the Russian conqueror. The self-named protagonist is called Conrad. He is a poet. In his vision, commonly known as "Wielka Improwizacja" - "The great Improvisation" - he is talking to God about his patriotic feelings and the intention of becoming a leader of the nation. His love and suffering makes him a symbol of a Polish soul. Nevertheless, in God's opinion he is too proud to free his country. Another character, a priest called Piotr, has also a vision. When he happens to foretell the country's future, he says one of the most mysterious words of the whole drama. Describing a person who will bring back the freedom of Poland, he says:
"The Son of a foreign mother, in his blood old heroes
And his name will be forty and four".
The whole drama brings back the hope of Polish independence and gives a great picture of Polish society in so difficult a moment. For instance, recognizable words are:
"Our nation is like lava. On the top it is hard and hideous, but its internal fire cannot be extinguished even in one hundred years of coldness. So let's spit on the crust and go down, to the profundity!"
Interpretation
Dziady are known of various interpretation. The most known ones are the moral aspect of part II, individualistIndividualism
Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, or social outlook that stresses "the moral worth of the individual". Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires and so value independence and self-reliance while opposing most external interference upon one's own...
and romantic message of part IV, as well as deeply patriotic
Patriotism
Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...
, messianistic
Messianism
Messianism is the belief in a messiah, a savior or redeemer. Many religions have a messiah concept, including the Jewish Messiah, the Christian Christ, the Muslim Mahdi and Isa , the Buddhist Maitreya, the Hindu Kalki and the Zoroastrian Saoshyant...
and christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
vision in part III. Zdzisław Kępiński, however, focuses his interpretation on Slavic pagan and occult
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
elements found in the drama. In his book Mickiewicz hermetyczny he writes about hermetic
Hermeticism
Hermeticism or the Western Hermetic Tradition is a set of philosophical and religious beliefs based primarily upon the pseudepigraphical writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus...
, theosophic
Theosophy
Theosophy, in its modern presentation, is a spiritual philosophy developed since the late 19th century. Its major themes were originally described mainly by Helena Blavatsky , co-founder of the Theosophical Society...
and alchemical
Alchemy
Alchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claims to profound powers were known from antiquity. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; these include the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone possessing powers including the capability of turning base...
philosophy on the book as well as Masonic
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
symbols (including controversial theory of Mickiewicz being a communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
).
Performances
A performance of Dziady took place in KrakówKraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
's Teatr Miejski (City Theater) in 1901, directed by Stanisław Wyspiański.
After the communist takeover of Poland, the new government discouraged the staging of Dziady. The first postwar production, a major cultural event, opened in November 1945, during the 1945-46 theater season, at Teatr Miejski in Opole
Opole
Opole is a city in southern Poland on the Oder River . It has a population of 125,992 and is the capital of the Upper Silesia, Opole Voivodeship and, also the seat of Opole County...
. It was guest-directed by Jerzy Ronard Bujanski of Teatr Stary (the Old Theater) in Kraków, who also starred as Konrad.
Three years later, Leon Schiller
Leon Schiller
Leon Schiller de Schildenfeld was a Polish theater and film director, critic and theoretician. He was also a composer and wrote theater and radio screenplays....
began work on a production of Dziady at Teatr Polski (the Polish Theater) in Warsaw. The opening night was planned for December 1948, but was canceled for a number of reasons, some political.
The next production of Dziady in post-World War II Poland was staged only after Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
's death and took place in November 1955 at Warsaw's Teatr Polski.