Adam Asnyk

Adam Asnyk (11 September 1838 – 2 August 1897), was a Polish poet and dramatist of the Positivist era.

Life and work

Born in Kalisz to a szlachta family, he was educated to become an heir of his family's estate. As such he received education at the Institute of Agriculture and Forestry in Marymont and then the Medical Surgeon School in Warsaw. He continued his studies abroad in Breslau, Paris, Heidelberg and surprisingly in Sofia for a brief time. In 1862, he returned to Congress Poland and took part in the January Uprising against Russian rule. Because of that he had to flee his country and settled in Heidelberg, where in 1866 he received a doctorate of philosophy. Soon afterwards he returned to Poland and settled in the Austrian-held part of the country, initially in Lwów and then in Kraków.

In 1875, Asnyk married Zofia née Kaczorowska, with whom he had a son, Włodzimierz, and around that time started his career as a journalist. An editor of a Kraków-based Reforma daily, in 1884 he was also chosen to the city council of Kraków. Five years later he was elected to the Diet of Galicia and Lodomeria. (At the breakthrough) is perhaps the first use of rhyme royal in original Polish poetry. His versification was often discussed by prominent Polish scholars, among others by Maria Dłuska and Lucylla Pszczołowska.

Books of poetry Nad głębiami (Over the Depths) (1883–1894) Poezje (Poetries) (1869) Poezje (Poetries) (1872) Poezje (Poetries) (1880) Poezje (Poetries) (1894)