Appreciation for Norwid grows after his death
REMEMBER ME. The Legacy: Following Cyprian Norwid's death, many of his works were forgotten; it was not until the Young Poland period that his finesse and style was appreciated. At that time, his work was discovered and popularized by Zenon Przesmycki, a Polish poet and literary critic who was a member of the Polish Academy of Literature.
Some concluded that during his life, Norwid was rejected by his contemporaries so that he could be understood by the next generation.
Opinion is divided, however, as to whether he was a true Romantic artist or if he was artistically ahead of his time. My ""Collected Works "" (Dziela Zebrane) were published in 1968 by Julius Wiktor Gomulicki, a biographer and commentator. The full iconic collection of Norwid's work was released during the period 1971-1976 as Pisma Wszystkie (Collected Works) comprising 11 volumes.
Since 2011 the Scholarly Society of the Catholic University of Lublin has been publishing a new critical edition of his complete works, Dziela Wszystkie in 17 volumes. His graphic works were published in 4 volumes between 2014 and 2019.
In 2011 a Polish poet and translator of Norwid into French, Christopher Jezewski, published a pioneering study about the influence of ancient Chinese thinking on this Polish writer – Cyprian Norwid a mysl I poetyka Kraju Srodka (Cyprian Norwid and the Thought and Poetics of the Middle Kingdom.)
On Sept. 24, 2001, 118 years after his death in France, an urn containing soil from the collective grave where Norwid had been buried in Paris' Montmorency cemetery was enshrined in the ""Crypts of the Bard"" at Wawel Cathedral. There Norwid's remains were placed next to those of Polish poets Adam Mickiewicz and Juliusz Slowacki.
The cathedral's Zygmunt Bell, heard only when events of great national and religious significance occur, resounded loudly to mark the poet's return to his homeland. During a special Thanksgiving Mass held at the cathedral, the Archbishop of Krakow Cardinal Franciszek Macharski said that 74 years after the remains of Julius Slowacki were brought in, again the doors of the crypt of bards have opened to “receive the great poet, Cyprian Norwid into Wawel's royal cathedral, for he was an equal of kings.""
In 1966, the Polish Scouts in Chicago acquired a 240 acre parcel of land in the north woods of Wisconsin and named it Camp Norwid in his honor. The camp is private property, and has been a forging place for generations of youth of Polish heritage from the Chicago and Milwaukee areas and from across the United States.
PARADE. On Sunday, Oct. 3 Polish Americans will join together to honor Brigadier General Casimir Pulaski, hero of the American Revolutionary War, who died at the Battle of Savannah, Georgia in October 1779, at the 84th annual Pulaski Day Parade in New York City. The theme for this 84th annual Pulaski Day Parade is ""Celebrating the 100th Birthday of Saint John Paul II.""
This colorful parade will step off from Fifth Avenue at 35th Street at 12:30 p.m. with the Honor Guard of the New York City Police and Fire Department leading the way up Fifth Avenue to 54th Street. The Honorable Jadwiga Kopala of New Jersey is the Grand Marshal of the Quadstate Pulaski Parade and will lead contingents from New Jersey, New York State, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.
The Pulaski Day Parade has been celebrated on Fifth Avenue since 1937 and according to the General Pulaski Memorial Parade Committee President Richard Zawisny this is the second longest active parade in New York City history that marches in rain or sun.
Also there will be a 9 a.m. Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral, with many concelebrants on this day.
CURIOUS. Magazines continued. In 1672, French publication ""Mercure Galant"" combined poems, colorful anecdotes, feature articles, and gossip on the nobles at court. However, in 1693, a British publisher took the bold step of introducing a magazine devoted to “the fairer sex.” Ladies Mercury offered advice on etiquette, courtship, child rearing, embroidery patterns and home cosmetic preparations, along with dollops of light verse and heavy doses of gossip – a potpourri of how-to, delights and inessentials that could not be found in newspapers or books. The magazine found itself a niche and set forth a formula for imitators. While ""penny weeklies"" thrived in centuries old Europe, in the nascent American colonies they encountered indifferent readership, reluctant authorship and insurmountable circulation problems that turned many a weekly into a semiannual. (To be continued.)
FALL/FLOWERTIME. The name for this tree laurel came from the Latin laurus and in the Roman days the foliage was often used as a crown of distinction in athletics or even in academic honors. The name of our poet laureate came from those times when he too was honored with the laurel or the bay. The creation of the tree itself is told in mythology. When Daphne, a Greek nymph, was pursued by Apollo she prayed for aid, so the gods turned her into a laurel and Apollo, being a sentimental fellow, adopted it as his favorite tree.
OF INTEREST. The Season of the Harvest was known to the Egyptians themselves as ""Low Water,"" translated as Shemu, in reference to the state of the Nile before the beginning of its annual flood. It is also refereed to as Summer or the Dry Season.
In the lunar calendar, the intercalary month was added as needed to maintain the heliacal rising or Sirius in the fourth month of this season.. This meant that the Season of the Harvest usually lasted from May to September. Because the precise timing of the flood varied, the months of ""Low Water"" no longer precisely reflected the state of the river but the season was usually the time for the collection of Egypt's grain harvest.
The Season of the Harvest was divided into four months. In the lunar calendar, each began on a dawn when the waning crescent moon was no longer visible. In the civil calendar, each consisted of exactly 30 days divided into three 10 day weeks known as decans.
In ancient Egypt, these months were usually recorded by heir number within the season: I, II, III, IV SMW. They were also known by the names of their principal festivals, which came to be increasingly used after the Persian occupation.
Some concluded that during his life, Norwid was rejected by his contemporaries so that he could be understood by the next generation.
Opinion is divided, however, as to whether he was a true Romantic artist or if he was artistically ahead of his time. My ""Collected Works "" (Dziela Zebrane) were published in 1968 by Julius Wiktor Gomulicki, a biographer and commentator. The full iconic collection of Norwid's work was released during the period 1971-1976 as Pisma Wszystkie (Collected Works) comprising 11 volumes.
Since 2011 the Scholarly Society of the Catholic University of Lublin has been publishing a new critical edition of his complete works, Dziela Wszystkie in 17 volumes. His graphic works were published in 4 volumes between 2014 and 2019.
In 2011 a Polish poet and translator of Norwid into French, Christopher Jezewski, published a pioneering study about the influence of ancient Chinese thinking on this Polish writer – Cyprian Norwid a mysl I poetyka Kraju Srodka (Cyprian Norwid and the Thought and Poetics of the Middle Kingdom.)
On Sept. 24, 2001, 118 years after his death in France, an urn containing soil from the collective grave where Norwid had been buried in Paris' Montmorency cemetery was enshrined in the ""Crypts of the Bard"" at Wawel Cathedral. There Norwid's remains were placed next to those of Polish poets Adam Mickiewicz and Juliusz Slowacki.
The cathedral's Zygmunt Bell, heard only when events of great national and religious significance occur, resounded loudly to mark the poet's return to his homeland. During a special Thanksgiving Mass held at the cathedral, the Archbishop of Krakow Cardinal Franciszek Macharski said that 74 years after the remains of Julius Slowacki were brought in, again the doors of the crypt of bards have opened to “receive the great poet, Cyprian Norwid into Wawel's royal cathedral, for he was an equal of kings.""
In 1966, the Polish Scouts in Chicago acquired a 240 acre parcel of land in the north woods of Wisconsin and named it Camp Norwid in his honor. The camp is private property, and has been a forging place for generations of youth of Polish heritage from the Chicago and Milwaukee areas and from across the United States.
PARADE. On Sunday, Oct. 3 Polish Americans will join together to honor Brigadier General Casimir Pulaski, hero of the American Revolutionary War, who died at the Battle of Savannah, Georgia in October 1779, at the 84th annual Pulaski Day Parade in New York City. The theme for this 84th annual Pulaski Day Parade is ""Celebrating the 100th Birthday of Saint John Paul II.""
This colorful parade will step off from Fifth Avenue at 35th Street at 12:30 p.m. with the Honor Guard of the New York City Police and Fire Department leading the way up Fifth Avenue to 54th Street. The Honorable Jadwiga Kopala of New Jersey is the Grand Marshal of the Quadstate Pulaski Parade and will lead contingents from New Jersey, New York State, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.
The Pulaski Day Parade has been celebrated on Fifth Avenue since 1937 and according to the General Pulaski Memorial Parade Committee President Richard Zawisny this is the second longest active parade in New York City history that marches in rain or sun.
Also there will be a 9 a.m. Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral, with many concelebrants on this day.
CURIOUS. Magazines continued. In 1672, French publication ""Mercure Galant"" combined poems, colorful anecdotes, feature articles, and gossip on the nobles at court. However, in 1693, a British publisher took the bold step of introducing a magazine devoted to “the fairer sex.” Ladies Mercury offered advice on etiquette, courtship, child rearing, embroidery patterns and home cosmetic preparations, along with dollops of light verse and heavy doses of gossip – a potpourri of how-to, delights and inessentials that could not be found in newspapers or books. The magazine found itself a niche and set forth a formula for imitators. While ""penny weeklies"" thrived in centuries old Europe, in the nascent American colonies they encountered indifferent readership, reluctant authorship and insurmountable circulation problems that turned many a weekly into a semiannual. (To be continued.)
FALL/FLOWERTIME. The name for this tree laurel came from the Latin laurus and in the Roman days the foliage was often used as a crown of distinction in athletics or even in academic honors. The name of our poet laureate came from those times when he too was honored with the laurel or the bay. The creation of the tree itself is told in mythology. When Daphne, a Greek nymph, was pursued by Apollo she prayed for aid, so the gods turned her into a laurel and Apollo, being a sentimental fellow, adopted it as his favorite tree.
OF INTEREST. The Season of the Harvest was known to the Egyptians themselves as ""Low Water,"" translated as Shemu, in reference to the state of the Nile before the beginning of its annual flood. It is also refereed to as Summer or the Dry Season.
In the lunar calendar, the intercalary month was added as needed to maintain the heliacal rising or Sirius in the fourth month of this season.. This meant that the Season of the Harvest usually lasted from May to September. Because the precise timing of the flood varied, the months of ""Low Water"" no longer precisely reflected the state of the river but the season was usually the time for the collection of Egypt's grain harvest.
The Season of the Harvest was divided into four months. In the lunar calendar, each began on a dawn when the waning crescent moon was no longer visible. In the civil calendar, each consisted of exactly 30 days divided into three 10 day weeks known as decans.
In ancient Egypt, these months were usually recorded by heir number within the season: I, II, III, IV SMW. They were also known by the names of their principal festivals, which came to be increasingly used after the Persian occupation.