Teofil Aleksander Lenartowicz (27 February 1822 in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

– 3 February 1893 in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

)Wirtualna Biblioteka Literatury Polskiej.
''

University of Gdańsk The University of Gdańsk ( pl, Uniwersytet Gdański) is a public research university located in Gdańsk, Poland. It is one of the top 10 universities in Poland and is also an important centre for the studies of the Kashubian language. History ...

'' was a Polish

ethnographer Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...

, sculptor, poet and Romantic conspirator. Linked to Bohemians among Warsaw intellectuals,

Czesław Miłosz Czesław Miłosz (, also , ; 30 June 1911 – 14 August 2004) was a Polish-American poet, prose writer, translator, and diplomat. Regarded as one of the great poets of the 20th century, he won the 1980 Nobel Prize in Literature. In its citation, ...

''The history of Polish literature''. "Romanticism."
''

University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by facult ...

'', 1983; pp. 259/267. . Lenartowicz was associated with Oskar Kolberg and Roman Zmorski in the anti-Tsarist independence movement, and participated in the Greater Poland Uprising of 1848 during his stay in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

. While in exile he taught Slavic literature at the University of Bologna, composed patriotic and religious poems, as well as lyrical and historical epics based on the folklore of his beloved region of

Mazowsze Mazovia or Masovia ( pl, Mazowsze) is a historical region in mid-north-eastern Poland. It spans the North European Plain, roughly between Łódź and Białystok, with Warsaw being the unofficial capital and largest city. Throughout the centurie ...

. He did portrait-sculptures, and designed tombstones.Dr Marek Adamiec
Virtual Library of Polish Literature: Teofil Lenartowicz
. Retrieved October 4, 2011. Teofil Aleksander came from the master mason family of Lenartowicz '' Pobóg

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

''. He was the son of Karol and Maria '' née'' Kwasieborska ''Cholewa'' coat of arms. While in Florence, he married sculptor Zofia Szymanowska ''Młodzian'' COA, with whom he had a son John (Jan).''Wielka Genealogia Minakowskiego'' (''Minakowski Great Book of Genealogy'').
Requires subscription. Also a
free sample.
His remains were brought from Italy to Poland and interred in the Crypt of the Distinguished in the St. Stanislaus Church at

Skałka Saint Michael the Archangel and Saint Stanislaus the Bishop and Martyr Basilica, also known as Skałka, which means "a small rock" in Polish, is a small outcrop in Kraków atop of which a Pauline monastery is located, a place where the Bish ...

Literature

Owing to his fascination with the folklore of the Polish Masovia (which Lenartowicz used as the chief motif of his poetry), he used to call himself ''Mazurzyna'', a ''versifier'' of Masovia region. He was friends with Elżbieta Bośniacka, a playwright, poet and journalist associated with ''Dziennik Literacki''.Bośniacka w indeksie autorów portalu polonistyka.edu.pl
The best-known of his poems is "The Golden Cup" ("Złoty kubek", 1853), based on a traditional Polish Christmas carol, in which an orphaned girl asks the heavenly

goldsmith A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Nowadays they mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, goldsmiths have also made silverware, platters, goblets, decorative and servicea ...

to make her a golden cup from golden apples and leaves fallen from the golden . The cup is to be decorated with engravings depicting the idealized Polish countryside. Because of its symbolism of transcendent light, the poem can be interpreted in different ways, including as advice on art-making. It was favorably received by

Norwid Cyprian Kamil Norwid, a.k.a. Cyprian Konstanty Norwid (; 24 September 1821 – 23 May 1883), was a nationally esteemed Polish poet, dramatist, painter, and sculptor. He was born in the Masovian village of Laskowo-Głuchy near Warsaw. One of h ...

, as well as by

Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska, ''née'' Kossak (24 November 1891 – 9 July 1945), was a prolific Polish poet known as the ''Polish Sappho'' and "queen of lyrical poetry" during Poland's interwar period.

, who wrote a poem, "Lenartowicz," about the concept of his "Golden Cup". Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska, "Lenartowicz".
''Antologia poezji.'' Retrieved October 5, 2011.Alina Witkowska, Ryszard Przybylski
''Wielka historia literatury polskiej.'' Romantyzm.
'' PWN'', 1997. . He published two collections of poetry: ''Lirenka'' and ''Zachwycenie'' (Rapture, 1855). Among his many notable poems, Teofil Lenartowicz wrote also: "Dwaj Towiańczycy" (The two followers of Towiański), in which he describes the death of his former co-conspirators Michał Szweycer (Ludwik Szwejcer) and Adolf Rozwadowski; "Moje strony" (My homeland), "Rosła kalina" (Hearty

viburnum ''Viburnum'' is a genus of about 150–175 species of flowering plants in the moschatel family Adoxaceae. Its current classification is based on molecular phylogeny. It was previously included in the honeysuckle family Caprifoliaceae. The membe ...

), "Tęsknota" (Longing), "Wiersz do poezji" (Poem to poetry), "Duch sieroty" (Spirit of an orphan), "

Jan Kochanowski Jan Kochanowski (; 1530 – 22 August 1584) was a Polish Renaissance poet who established poetic patterns that would become integral to the Polish literary language. He is commonly regarded as the greatest Polish poet before Adam Mickiewicz. ...

", "Lirnik. Baśń" (A

minstrel A minstrel was an entertainer, initially in medieval Europe. It originally described any type of entertainer such as a musician, juggler, acrobat, singer or fool; later, from the sixteenth century, it came to mean a specialist entertainer ...

. Tale), "Łzy" (Tears), "Czajka", "Pustota" (Emptiness), "O powrocie do kraju" (On the return to the country), "Zaproszenie" (Invitation), and "Staruszek" (Old Man). Teofil Lenartowicz, ''POEZJE.'' Wybór.
Wybrał i opracował J. Nowakowski, Warszawa 1967. Poland's eminent poet

described Lenartowicz longer poems "Zachwycenie" ("Rapture") and "Błogosławiona" ("The Blessed One"), both published in 1855, as having a "curious treatment of religious themes." The heaven encountered by a departing soul is expected to look just like a village in Poland. ''The history of Polish literature'' By Czesław Miłosz. ''Ibidem'', page 267.
Retrieved October 5, 2011. Between 1888 and 1893, Lenartowicz was an honorary member of the ''Poznań Society of the Friends of Science'', according to Bolesław Erzepki in 1896.Bolesław Erzepki
''Spis członków Towarzystwa Przyjaciół Nauk w Poznaniu''

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint Joh ...

, 1896, p. 3. ''See:'' Content presentation. 'Built in browser.'

Notes and references

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lenartowicz, Teofil Polish male writers Cultural history of Poland Romanticism 1822 births 1893 deaths

Literature

See also

Notes and references

External links