Tadeusz Miciński (9 November 1873, in

Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of canti ...

– February 1918, in Cherykaw Raion,

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

) was an influential

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

gnostic Gnosticism (from grc, γνωστικός, gnōstikós, , 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems which coalesced in the late 1st century AD among Jewish and early Christian sects. These various groups emphasized pe ...

and

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

, and was a forerunner of

Expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

and

Surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

. He is one of the writers of the

Young Poland Young Poland ( pl, Młoda Polska) was a modernist period in Polish visual arts, literature and music, covering roughly the years between 1890 and 1918. It was a result of strong aesthetic opposition to the earlier ideas of Positivism. Young Pol ...

period ( Neoromanticism movement). His writings are strong influenced by Dark Romanticism and Romantic

gothic fiction Gothic fiction, sometimes called Gothic horror in the 20th century, is a loose literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name is a reference to Gothic architecture of the European Middle Ages, which was characteristic of the settings of ea ...

, with a focus on moral battles between good and evil. He was called by many a ''wizard poet'' and a ''worshipper of mysteries''.

Life

He studied

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

at the

University of Kraków The Jagiellonian University ( Polish: ''Uniwersytet Jagielloński'', UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and the 13th oldest university in ...

. His work was heavily influenced by Polish

messianism Messianism is the belief in the advent of a messiah who acts as the savior of a group of people. Messianism originated as a Zoroastrianism religious belief and followed to Abrahamic religions, but other religions have messianism-related concepts ...

and included philosophical and mystical themes. The most well-known of his poetry collections is ''W mroku gwiazd'' (''In the Twilight of the Stars''), released in 1902, and a 1906 play, ''Kniaź Patiomkin'' (''Prince Potemkin''). He was friends with the writer and painter

Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (; 24 February 188518 September 1939), commonly known as Witkacy, was a Polish writer, painter, philosopher, theorist, playwright, novelist, and photographer active before World War I and during the interwar period. ...

and the composer Karol Szymanowski, who composed music dedicated to him. Miciński was assassinated in 1918 during the Russian Revolution, while he was helping to organize the Polish armed forces. There is a street named for Tadeusz Miciński on the

housing estate

Works

His most popular works are: *Łazarze - ''The Lazars'' (1896) - poem, *Nauczycielka ''The Teacher'' (1896) - short story, *W mroku gwiazd - ''In the Twilight of the Stars'' (1902) - poetry collection, *Kniaź Patiomkin - ''Prince Potemkin'' (1906) - drama, *Do źródeł duszy polskiej - ''To the origin of the Polish soul'' (1906) - article, *W mrokach złotego pałacu, czyli Bazylissa Teofanu (1909) - drama, *Nietota. Księga tajemna Tatr - ''Nietota. The Book of Tatra mystery'' (1910) - novel, *Walka o Chrystusa - ''The Fight for Christ'' (1911) - article, *Dęby czarnobylskie - ''The Oaks of Tchernobyl'' (1911) - short stories compilation, *Xiądz Faust - ''Monk Faust'' (1913) - novel

References

1873 births 1918 deaths 19th-century Polish dramatists and playwrights Polish male dramatists and playwrights 19th-century Polish poets Jagiellonian University alumni Polish Theosophists Polish male poets 20th-century Polish dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Polish poets 19th-century Polish novelists 20th-century Polish novelists Polish male novelists {{poland-writer-stub