Gnuśni Poznańczanie, zawiły wykład cybernetyki i cudowna wiosna – Juliusz Słowacki wobec Wielkopolan

Abstract

The indolent Poznanians, the complex lecture on cybernetics and amazing spring – Juliusz Słowacki towards the society of the Great Duchy of Poznań

Juliusz Słowacki’s regular contacts with the Wielkopolska region started in the late 1830s, when the poet began his collaboration with „Tygodnik Literacki” [“Literary Weekly”]. This first phase in his relations with the people of Wielkopolska ended disappointingly for the poet; it filled him with some disgust and contributed to a negative portrayal of Poznanians in the poem Vivat Poznańczanie! [Long live the Poznanians!]. This work marks the second phase in Słowacki’s relations with the region, a period when the poet watched and ironically commented on the social and political life in the Great Duchy of Poznań. He reformulated his views in 1848 following the beginning of the revolutionary Springtime of the Peoples, when he came to Poznań to take part in the events unfolding there. The Springtime of the Peoples and the period immediately following the cessation of armed conflicts mark the third phase in the poet’s relations with Wielkopolska. The aim of the article is an analysis of the three phases of Słowacki’s relations with the society of the Great Duchy of Poznań, particularly with regard to the traces left by these “Wielkopolska experiences” in his works and letters. The article also recalls the poet’s “return” to the region, i.e. the foundation of the Słowacki monument by Józef Kościelski in Miłosław in 1899.