The Poets of Young Poland, 1890–1903

Extract

As all students know, there have been not a few cases in history where the ferment and heat of great events have found striking expression in literature, and may even be said to have given birth to that expression. The examples are fewer in which a distinct movement in thought and letters preceded events, being an undoubted preparation for them. To these belong what is known as “Young Poland,” of which the more precise dates might be said to be 1895–1903. The purpose of this paper is to sketch briefly some of the major features of this period of Polish creative achievement, as yet too little known in the English-speaking world.