User:Kpalion/Pan Tadeusz 1
 Title page of the first edition | |
| Author | Adam Mickiewicz |
|---|---|
| Language | Polish |
| Genre | Epic poem |
Publication date | 1834 |
| Publication place | France |
Pan Tadeusz is an epic poem written in Polish by Adam Mickiewicz, first published in Paris in 1834. It is considered one of the greatest masterpieces of Polish Romanticist literature and a national epic of Poland. Set during the Napoleonic era in a fictional idyllic village of Soplicowo somewhere in the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania, or in modern-day Belarus, the poem tells a story of litigation over ruins of an old castle between two noble families – Soplica and Horeszko – against the backdrop of an anticipated Franco-Russian war.
Title
[edit]The poem's full title, evocative of verbose and flowery titles typical of Baroque literature, is: Pan Tadeusz czyli ostatni zajazd na Litwie: Historia szlachecka z roku 1811 i 1812 we dwunastu księgach wierszem ("Pan Tadeusz or The Last Foray in Lithuania: A Tale of the Gentry During 1811–1812 in Twelve Books of Verse"). Pan Tadeusz, which refers to one of the main protagonists, is either rendered as "Master Thaddeus" in early English translations or left unchanged in the more recent ones. Pan is a Polish honorific once reserved to men of noble birth and roughly equivalent to "Sir", "Lord" or "Master"; Tadeusz is a given name. Mickiewicz explained the term zajazd, conventionally rendered into English as "foray", as an armed execution of a court order carried out by the plaintiff's relatives and neighbors.
Synopsis
[edit]Setting
[edit]Place and time
[edit]- Place
- Soplicowo — estate, caslte, zaścianek
- Time
- 5 days in the summer of 1811, two days in the spring of 1812, link to timeline
Historical background
[edit]GDL, PLC, Bar, 3 May, Kościuszko, Partitions, Napoleon, Duchy of Warsaw, Invasion of Russia
Characters
[edit]- Polish gentry as a collective epic hero
- Explain honorific titles, nicknames
Fictional characters
[edit]Soplica family and friends:
- Jacek Soplica / Father Worm
- Judge Soplica (Sędzia)
- Tadeusz Soplica
- Chamberlain (Podkomorzy)
- Anna and Róża, Chamberlain's daughters
- Tribune Hreczecha (Wojski)
- Usher Protazy Brzechalski (Woźny)
- Rejent Bolesta
- Asesor
Horeszko family and friends:
- Pantler Horeszko (Stolnik)
- Ewa Horeszkówna
- Zosia
- Count (Hrabia)
- Telimena
- Gerwazy Rębajło
Dobrzyński family and friends:
- Maciej "Królik' Dobrzyński
- Maciej "Chrzciciel" Dobrzyński
- Sak Dobrzyński
- Maciej "Konewka" Dobrzyński
- Bartłomiej "Brzytewka" Dobrzyński
- Bartłomiej "Prusak" Dobrzyński
- Buchman
Other:
- Jankiel
- Major Plut
- Capt. Nikita Nikitich Rykov
Plots
[edit]Major plots:
- Litigation
- Love quadrangle
- Jacek
- Politics and war
Minor plots and digressions:
- Rejent vs Asesor
- Domeyko vs Doweyko
- Rejtan vs Denassów
Themes
[edit]- The lost world of Old Poland
- Struggle for independence
- Lithuanian nature
- Expiation
Style
[edit]Genre and references to other works
[edit]- Epic poem (Homer, Virgil, Tasso)
- Heroicomic poem
- Historical novel (Scott)
- Idyll (Goethe)
- Gentry tale (Rzewuski)
- Fairy tale
Prosody
[edit]- A tridecasyllable (thirteen syllables in each verse) with a caesura (pause) afer the seventh syllable. The sixth and twelfth syllables are the last stressed syllables before the caesura and before the end of the verse respectively.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| x | x | x | x | x | S | U | || | x | x | x | x | S | U |
| Na | ten- | czas | Woj- | ski | chwy- | cił | na | taś- | mie | przy- | pię- | ty | |
| Swój | róg | ba- | wo- | li, | dłu- | gi, | cęt- | ko- | wa- | ny, | krę- | ty | |
| Jak | wąż | bo- | a, | o- | bu- | rącz | do | ust | go | przy- | cis- | nął, | |
| Wzdął | po- | licz- | ki | jak | ba- | nię, | W o- | czach | krwią | za- | błys- | nął... |
x – stressed or unstressed syllable; S – always stressed; U – never stressed; || – caesura