''Grażyna'' is an 1823 narrative poem by

Adam Mickiewicz Adam Bernard Mickiewicz (24 December 179826 November 1855) was a Polish poet, dramatist, essayist, publicist, translator and political activist. He is regarded as national poet in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. He also largely influenced Ukra ...

, written in the summer of 1822 during a year-long sabbatical in Vilnius, while away from his teaching duties in Kowno.Roman Robert Koropeckyj
''Adam Mickiewicz: the life of a romantic''.
''

Cornell University Press The Cornell University Press is the university press of Cornell University, an Ivy League university in Ithaca, New York. It is currently housed in Sage House, the former residence of Henry William Sage. It was first established in 1869, maki ...

'', 2008. Page 35. . The poem describes the exploits of a

mythical Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

Lithuanian chieftainess Grażyna () against the forces of the medieval Order of the

Teutonic Knights The Teutonic Order is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem was formed to aid Christians on their pilgrimages to t ...

. The woman character is believed to have been based on Mickiewicz's own sweetheart from Kaunas, Karolina Kowalska. The name was originally conceived by Mickiewicz himself, having used the

root In vascular plants, the roots are the plant organ, organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often bel ...

of the Lithuanian adjective ''graži'', meaning "beautiful".April 1
a name-day for Grażyna, #53 in Poland among the most popular names It was said by Polish writer Christien Ostrowski to have inspired Emilia Plater, a military heroine of the November 1830 Uprising.

Musical settings

In 1933 the poem served as the basis for the first opera in the newly independent Lithuania. In 1955, Ukrainian composer Boris Lyatoshinsky composed an eponymous orchestral work based on the poem in commemoration of the centenary of Mickiewicz's death.

References

External links

* Full text of ''Grażyna'' in Polish including ''

Konrad Wallenrod ''Konrad Wallenrod'' is an 1828 narrative poem, in Polish language, Polish, by Adam Mickiewicz, set in the 14th-century Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Mickiewicz wrote it, while living in St. Petersburg, Russia, in protest against the late-18th-cen ...

'', with both French and English translations, published in Paris in 1859, with foreword by Jan Tysiewicz
Google books preview.
Polish poems Works by Adam Mickiewicz Poems set in Lithuania Epic poems in Polish {{poem-stub