Cyprian Kamil Norwid

Selected Poems

Norwid Cyprian

Cyprian Norwid, born in 1821 near Warsaw, is one of the most innovative and idiosyncratic figures in Polish literature. His unique poetry is now recognized as among Poland's finest. Adam Czerniawski's selection from all phases of the poet's work beautifully recreate the work of a poet described by Jerzy Peterkiewicz as a great innovator in Polish poetry and a profoundly original sensibility. This second edition adds a translation of the first poem of the Vade-mecum cycle ("Hands clapping – now swollen") and an additiional preface by Adam Czerniawski.

Norwid's work is introduced by the late Bogdan Czaykowski, the eminent Polish poet, scholar and critic.

About the Author

Cyprian Kamil Norwid was born in 1821 near Warsaw. Largely self-taught, he left Poland at the age of 21, moving widely around Europe, befriended by Chopin among others, before travelling to America. Persistently dogged by financial crises, he was forced to return to Paris in 1854. There he spent the rest of his life, dying in a hostel for Polish insurrection veterans in Ivry in 1883.

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