List of poets who have written much of their
poetry
Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...
in
Polish. See also Discussion Page for additional poets not listed here.
Three 19th century poets have historically been recognized as the national poets of Polish Romantic literature, dubbed the
Three Bards. There have been five Polish-language
Nobel Prize in Literature
The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in ...
laureates, of which
Czesław Miłosz
Czesław Miłosz ( , , ; 30 June 1911 – 14 August 2004) was a Polish Americans, Polish-American poet, prose writer, translator, and diplomat. He primarily wrote his poetry in Polish language, Polish. Regarded as one of the great poets of the ...
and
Wisława Szymborska
Maria Wisława Anna SzymborskaVioletta Szostagazeta.pl, 9 February 2012. ostęp 11 February 2012 (; 2 July 1923 – 1 February 2012) was a Polish people, Polish poet, essayist, translator, and recipient of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Liter ...
were poets.
A
*
Franciszka Arnsztajnowa
Franciszka Hanna Arnsztajnowa (; ; 19 February 1865 – August 1942) was a Polish poet, playwright, and translator of Jewish descent.So ''Słownik biograficzny miasta Lublina'' (see Bibliography). Much of her creative ''oeuvre'' falls within th ...
(1865–1942)
*
Adam Asnyk (1838–1897)
B
*
Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński
Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński, (; nom de guerre: Jan Bugaj; 22 January 1921 – 4 August 1944) was a Polish poet and Home Army soldier, one of the most well known of the Generation of Columbuses, the young generation of Polish poets, of whom several ...
(1921–1944)
*
Józef Baka (1707–1780)
*
Edward Balcerzan (born 1937)
*
Stanisław Baliński (1899–1984)
*
Marcin Baran (born 1963)
*
Stanisław Barańczak (1946–2014),
Nike Award
The Nike Literary Award (, pronounced ) is a literary prize awarded each year for the best book of a single living author writing in Polish and published the previous year. It is widely considered the most important award for Polish literatu ...
winner
*
Miron Białoszewski (1922–1983)
*
Zbigniew Bieńkowski (1913–1994)
*
Biernat of Lublin
Biernat of Lublin ( Polish: ''Biernat z Lublina'', Latin ''Bernardus Lublinius'', ca. 1465 – after 1529) was a Polish poet, fabulist, translator, and physician. He was one of the first Polish-language writers known by name, and the most i ...
(1465?– after 1529)
*
Tadeusz Borowski
Tadeusz Borowski (; 12 November 1922 – 3 July 1951) was a Polish writer and journalist. His wartime poetry and stories dealing with his experiences as a prisoner at Auschwitz are recognized as classics of Polish literature.
Early life
Boro ...
(1922–1951)
*
Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński (1874–1941)
*
Władysław Broniewski
Władysław Kazimierz Broniewski (17 December 1897 – 10 February 1962) was a Polish poet, writer, translator and soldier, known for his Revolution, revolutionary and Patriotism, patriotic writings.
Life
He was the son of Antoni, a bank clerk. ...
(1897–1962)
*
Jerzy Braun (1907–1975)
*
Jan Brzechwa
Jan Brzechwa (; 15 August 1898 – 2 July 1966) was a Polish poet, author and lawyer, known mostly for his contribution to children's literature. He was born Jan Wiktor Lesman to a Polish Jew, Polish family of Jewish descent.[Teodor Bujnicki
Teodor Bujnicki (13 December 1907 – 27 November 1944) was a Polish poet and a member of the literary group ''Żagary''.
During World War II, Bujnicki was condemned for "collaboration with Soviet occupants" in Vilnius after Lithuania's incorporat ...]
(1904–1944)
*
Andrzej Bursa (1932–1957)
C
*
Józef Czechowicz (1903–1939)
*
Tytus Czyżewski
Tytus Czyżewski (28 December 1880 in Przyszowa – 5 May 1945 in Kraków) was a Polish painter, art theoretician, Futurism (art), Futurist poet, playwright, member of the Formizm, Polish Formists and a Kapists, Colorist.
Biography
In 1902 he s ...
(1880–1945)
D
*
Jacek Dehnel
Jacek Maria Dehnel (born 1 May 1980 in Gdańsk, Poland) is a Polish people, Polish poet, writer, translator and painter.
Life and work
He graduated from the Stefan Żeromski High School No. 5 in Gdańsk, where he excelled in Humanities. Dehnel ...
(born 1980)
*
Elżbieta Drużbacka (1695 or 1698 – 1765)
E
*
Leszek Engelking
Leszek Maria Engelking (2 February 1955 – 22 October 2022) was a Polish poet, short story writer, novelist, translator, literary critic, essayist, Polish philologist, and literary academic, scholar, and lecturer.
Engelking translated a vast ...
(1955–2022)
F
*
Jerzy Ficowski
Jerzy Tadeusz Ficowski (; 4 October 1924 in Warsaw – 9 May 2006 in Warsaw) was a Polish poet, writer, ethnographer and translator (from Yiddish, Russian, Romani and Hungarian).
Biography and works
During the German occupation of Poland in ...
, (1924–2006)
*
Aleksander Fredro
Aleksander Fredro (20 June 1793 – 15 July 1876) was a Polish poet, playwright and Polish authors, author active during Romanticism in Poland, Polish Romanticism in the Partitions of Poland, period of partitions by neighboring empires. His works ...
(1793–1876)
G
*
Tadeusz Gajcy (1922–1944)
*
Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński (1905–1953)
*
Stefan Garczyński (1690–1756)
*
Cezary Geroń
Cezary Geroń (1960–1998) was a Polish poet, journalist, translator and teacher. Born on 28 July 1960 in Jasło, he graduated from a local college in nearby Krosno. Afterwards he moved to Kraków, where he joined the Faculty of French Studies. H ...
(1960–1998)
*
Zuzanna Ginczanka
Zuzanna Ginczanka, ''pen name'' Zuzanna Polina Gincburg (March 22, 1917 – 1944) was a Polish people, Polish-Jews, Jewish poet of the Polish culture in the Interbellum, interwar period. Although she only published a single collection of poetry i ...
(1917–1944)
*
Cyprian Godebski (1765–1809)
*
Stanisław Grochowiak (1934–1976)
*
Wioletta Grzegorzewska (born 1974)
H
*
Julia Hartwig (1921–2017)
*
Marian Hemar (1901–1972)
*
Zbigniew Herbert (1924–1998), one of the best known and the most translated post-war Polish writers
*
Urszula Honek (1987)
I
*
Maria Ilnicka (1825 or 1827–1897)
*
Wacław Iwaniuk (1912–2001)
*
Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz
Jarosław Leon Iwaszkiewicz (; also known under his literary pseudonym Eleuter; 20 February 1894 – 2 March 1980), was a Polish writer, poet, essayist, dramatist and translator.Bartłomiej Szleszyński, Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz. 2003 Culture.plJ ...
(1894–1980)
J
*
Klemens Janicki (1516–1543)
*
Bruno Jasieński (1901–1938)
*
Mieczysław Jastrun (1903–1983)
K
*
Anna Kamieńska (1920–1986)
*
Franciszek Karpiński (1741–1825)
*
Jan Kasprowicz (1860–1936)
*
Maria Kazecka (1880–1938)
*
Andrzej Tadeusz Kijowski (born 1954)
*
Franciszek Dionizy Kniaźnin (1750–1807)
*
Jan Kochanowski
Jan Kochanowski (; 1530 – 22 August 1584) was a Polish Renaissance poet who wrote in Latin and Polish and established poetic patterns that would become integral to Polish literary language. He has been called the greatest Polish poet before ...
(1530–1584), considered the "father of Polish poetry" and the greatest
Slavic poet prior to the 19th century
*
Halina Konopacka (1900–1989)
*
Maria Konopnicka (1842–1910)
*
Stanisław Korab-Brzozowski, (1876–1901)
*
Julian Kornhauser (born 1946)
*
Apollo Korzeniowski (1820–1869), father of
Polish-British novelist
Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Poles in the United Kingdom#19th century, Polish-British novelist and story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the Eng ...
*
Urszula Kozioł (born 1931)
*
Ignacy Krasicki
Ignacy Błażej Franciszek Krasicki (3 February 173514 March 1801), from 1766 Prince-Bishop of Warmia (in German, ''Ermland'') and from 1795 Archbishop of Gniezno (thus, Primate of Poland), was Poland's leading Polish Enlightenment, Enlightenment ...
(1735–1801)
*
Zygmunt Krasiński (1812–1859), one of the ''
Three Bards'' of
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 Latin, ...
*
Katarzyna Krenz (born 1953)
*
Józef Krupiński (1930–1998)
*
Ryszard Krynicki (born 1943)
*
Andrzej Krzycki (1482–1537)
*
Paweł Kubisz (1907–1968)
*
Jalu Kurek (1904–1983)
*
Mira Kuś (born 1958)
L
*
Antoni Lange (1863–1929)
*
Stanisław Jerzy Lec, (1909–1966)
*
Joanna Lech (born 1984)
*
Jan Lechoń (1899–1956)
*
Krystyna Lenkowska (born 1957)
*
Bolesław Leśmian (1877–1937)
*
Jerzy Liebert (1904–1931)
*
Ewa Lipska (born 1945)
*
Stanisław Herakliusz Lubomirski (1641–1702)
Ł
*
Henryka Łazowertówna
Henryka Łazowertówna (; ''in full'' Henryka Wanda Łazowertówna); ''also'' Henryka Lazowert, or incorrectly Lazawert, (19 June 1909 – August 1942) was a Polish poetry, Polish lyric poet. While in general deeply personal in nature and of great ...
(1909–1942)
*
Józef Łobodowski (1909–1988)
M
*
Antoni Malczewski
Antoni Malczewski (3 June 1793 – 2 May 1826) was a Polish romantic poet, known for his only work, "a narrative poem of dire pessimism", ''Maria'' (1825).
At the times, prominent and scandalizing was his autodestructive romance with a married ...
(1793–1826)
*
Marcin Malek (born 1975)
*
Jakobe Mansztajn (born 1982)
*
Tadeusz Miciński
Tadeusz Miciński (1873-1918) was a Polish poet, novelist, and playwright associated with the Young Poland movement. Known for his mystical and symbolist themes, Miciński's works often explore the human psyche, existential questions, and the me ...
(1873–1918)
*
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 ...
(1798–1855), considered Poland's national poet and a leading figure of European
romanticism
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...
*
Grażyna Miller (1957–2009)
*
Czesław Miłosz
Czesław Miłosz ( , , ; 30 June 1911 – 14 August 2004) was a Polish Americans, Polish-American poet, prose writer, translator, and diplomat. He primarily wrote his poetry in Polish language, Polish. Regarded as one of the great poets of the ...
(1911–2004),
Nobel Prize in Literature
The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in ...
*
Stanisław Młodożeniec (1895–1959)
*
Jan Andrzej Morsztyn (1621–1693)
*
Zbigniew Morsztyn (1628–1689)
N
*
Daniel Naborowski (1573–1640)
*
Adam Naruszewicz (1733–1796)
*
Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz (1758–1841)
*
Cyprian Kamil Norwid (1821–1883)
*
Franciszek Nowicki (1864–1935)
O
*
Antoni Edward Odyniec (1804–1885)
*
Artur Oppman (1867–1931)
*
Władysław Orkan (1875–1930)
*
Agnieszka Osiecka
Agnieszka Osiecka (Polish pronunciation: ; 9 October 1936 – 7 March 1997) was a Polish poet, writer, author of theatre and television screenplays, film director and journalist. She was a prominent Polish songwriter, having authored the lyrics to ...
(1936–1997)
P
*
Leon Pasternak (1910–1969)
*
Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska
Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska, ''née'' Kossak (24 November 1891 – 9 July 1945), was a Polish poet. She was known as the "Polish Sappho" and "queen of lyrical poetry" during Poland's interwar period. (1891–1945)
*
Jacek Podsiadło (born 1964)
*
Wincenty Pol
Wincenty Pol (; 20 April 1807 – 2 December 1872) was a Polish poet and geographer.
Life
Pol was born in Lublin (then in Galicia), to Franz Pohl (or Poll), a German in the Austrian service, and his wife Eleonora Longchamps de Berier, from a ...
(1807–1872)
*
Halina Poświatowska (1935–1967)
*
Wacław Potocki (1621–1696)
*
Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer a.k.a. Kazimierz Tetmajer (1865–1940)
*
Zenon Przesmycki
Zenon Przesmycki (pen name ''Miriam''; Radzyń Podlaski, 22 December 1861 – 17 October 1944, Warsaw), was a Polish poet, translator and an art critic of the literary period of Młoda Polska, who studied law in Italy, France and England; in yea ...
(1861–1944)
*
Jeremi Przybora (1915–2004)
R
*
Mikołaj Rej
Mikołaj Rej or Mikołaj Rey of Nagłowice (4 February 1505 – between 8 September/5 October 1569) was a Polish poet and prose writer of the emerging Renaissance in Poland as it succeeded the Middle Ages in Poland, Middle Ages, as well as a po ...
(1505–1569)
*
Sydor Rey (1908–1979)
*
Barbara Rosiek (1959–2020)
*
Tadeusz Różewicz (1921–2014),
Nike Award
The Nike Literary Award (, pronounced ) is a literary prize awarded each year for the best book of a single living author writing in Polish and published the previous year. It is widely considered the most important award for Polish literatu ...
winner
*
Tomasz Różycki (born 1970)
*
Zygmunt Rumel (1915–1943)
*
Lucjan Rydel
Lucjan Rydel, also known as Lucjan Antoni Feliks Rydel (17 May 1870 in Kraków – 8 April 1918 in Bronowice Małe), was a Polish playwright and poet from the Young Poland movement.
Life
Rydel was the son of Lucjan Rydel, a surgeon, ophthalmolog ...
(1870–1918)
*
Jarosław Marek Rymkiewicz (1935–2022),
Nike Award
The Nike Literary Award (, pronounced ) is a literary prize awarded each year for the best book of a single living author writing in Polish and published the previous year. It is widely considered the most important award for Polish literatu ...
winner
S
*
Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski (1595–1640)
*
Władysław Sebyła (1902–1940)
*
Mikołaj Sęp Szarzyński (1550–1581)
*
Jan Stanisław Skorupski
Jan Stanisław Skorupski (born July 18, 1938 in Łoszniów, Podolia)
is a Polish writer, poet, essayist and esperantist.
Life
Skorupski is an internationally recognized poet. He has engaged in a multiplicity of other activities, including bei ...
(born 1938)
*
Antoni Słonimski
Antoni Słonimski (15 November 1895 – 4 July 1976) was a Polish poet, artist, journalist, playwright and prose writer, president of the Union of Polish Writers in 1956–1959 during the Polish October, known for his devotion to social justic ...
(1895–1976)
*
Juliusz Słowacki (1809–1849), regarded as of the ''
Three Bards'' of
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 Latin, ...
*
Edward Stachura (1937–1979)
*
Anatol Stern (1899–1968)
*
Leopold Staff (1878–1957)
*
Anna Stanisławska (1651–1701)
*
Andrzej Stasiuk (born 1960)
*
Anatol Stern (1899–1968)
*
Marcin Świetlicki
Marcin Świetlicki (born 24 December 1961) is a Polish poet, writer, and musician. He lives and works in Kraków, Poland.
Świetlicki was born in Piaski, near Lublin, Polish literature">Polish Literature at the Jagiellonian University in Krak ...
(born 1961)
*
Anna Świrszczyńska (1909–1984)
*
Władysław Syrokomla
Ludwik Władysław Franciszek Kondratowicz (29 September 1823 – 15 September 1862), better known as Władysław Syrokomla (), was a Polish romantic poet, writer and translator working in Vilnius and Vilna Governorate, then Russian Empire, whos ...
(1823–1862)
*
Lola Szereszewska (1895–1943)
*
Janusz Szpotański (1929–2001)
*
Włodzimierz Szymanowicz (1946–1967)
*
Wisława Szymborska
Maria Wisława Anna SzymborskaVioletta Szostagazeta.pl, 9 February 2012. ostęp 11 February 2012 (; 2 July 1923 – 1 February 2012) was a Polish people, Polish poet, essayist, translator, and recipient of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Liter ...
(1923–2012),
Nobel Prize in Literature
The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in ...
*
Szymon Szymonowic (1558–1629)
T
*
Eugeniusz Tkaczyszyn-Dycki (born 1962),
Nike Award
The Nike Literary Award (, pronounced ) is a literary prize awarded each year for the best book of a single living author writing in Polish and published the previous year. It is widely considered the most important award for Polish literatu ...
winner
*
Julian Tuwim (1894–1953)
*
Jan Twardowski (1915–2006)
U
*
Kornel Ujejski (1823–1897)
W
*
Aleksander Wat (1900–1967)
*
Adam Ważyk
Adam Ważyk born Ajzyk Wagman (17 November 1905 – 13 August 1982) was a Polish poet, essayist and writer born to a Jewish family in Warsaw. In his early career, he was associated with the Kraków avant-garde led by Tadeusz Peiper who published ...
(1905–1982)
*
Kazimierz Wierzyński (1894–1969)
*
Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz a.k.a. "Witkacy" (1885–1939)
*
Stefan Witwicki (1801–1847)
*
Rafał Wojaczek (1945–1971)
*
Grażyna Wojcieszko (born 1957)
*
Maryla Wolska (1873–1930)
*
Józef Wybicki (1747–1822), author of the
National Anthem of Poland
*
Stanisław Wyspiański
Stanisław Mateusz Ignacy Wyspiański (; 15 January 1869 – 28 November 1907) was a Polish playwright, painter, poet, and interior and furniture designer. A patriotic writer, he created symbolic national dramas accordant with the artisti ...
(1869–1907)
Z
*
Tymon Zaborowski (1799–1828)
*
Adam Zagajewski (1945–2021)
*
Józef Bohdan Zaleski
Józef Bohdan Zaleski (14 February 1802 – 31 March 1886) was a Polish Romanticism, Polish Romantic poet. A friend of Adam Mickiewicz, Zaleski founded the Ukrainian school, Ukrainian poetic school.
Life
Zaleski was a member of the secret patri ...
(1802–1886)
*
Wacław Michał Zaleski (1799–1849)
*
Kazimiera Zawistowska (1870–1902)
*
Piotr Zbylitowski
Piotr Zbylitowski (1569 – November 19, 1649) was a Polish poet. Courtier of Stanisław Górka and Stanisław Czarnkowski. In his satirical dialogues—''Rozmowa szlachcica polskiego z cudzoziemcem'' (1600), ''Przygana wymyślnym strojom białogł ...
(1569–1649)
*
Emil Zegadłowicz (1888–1941)
*
Katarzyna Ewa Zdanowicz-Cyganiak (born 1979)
*
Narcyza Żmichowska (1819–1876), a precursor of
feminism
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
in Poland
*
Jerzy Żuławski
Jerzy Żuławski (; 14 July 1874 – 9 August 1915) was a Polish literary figure, philosopher, translator, Alpinism, alpinist and patriot whose best-known work is the science fiction, science-fiction epic, ''Trylogia Księżycowa'' (''The Lun ...
(1874–1915)
*
Juliusz Żuławski Juliusz Żuławski (7 October 1910 in Zakopane – 10 January 1999 in Warsaw) was a Polish poet, prose writer, literary critic and translator. He was an editor of ''Nowa Kultura'' (1950–1951), chairman of Polish PEN Club (during the years of 197 ...
(1910–1999)
*
Eugeniusz Żytomirski (1911–1975)
References
See also
*
List of Polish-language authors
*
List of Poles
This is a partial list of notable Polish people, Polish or Polish language, Polish-speaking or -writing people. People of partial Polish heritage have their respective ancestries credited.
Physics
*Miedziak Antal
* Czesław Białobrzesk ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Polish-language poets
Polish
Polish-language poets