KASPROWICZ, JAN. - Polish poet, b. at Szymbor on 12 Dec. 1860, d. at Poronin on 2 Aug. 1926. Of a peasant family, he spent his adolescence and youth studying and struggling with poverty. He took part in the resistance against Prussian domination and was imprisoned; in 1889 he settled in Lwów, and was appointed professor of comparative literature on account of his great philological expertise.
K. is regarded as one of the greatest poets of his time for the force and nobility of his inspiration. His first works (Poezje; Z chłopskiego zagonu, "From the Peasant's Field"; Gleba) and the drama Świat się kończy ("The World Is Coming to an End") are a powerful depiction of the misery and ignorance of the people. The contrast between spirit and matter, between faith and skepticism, finds sublime expression in the Inni (Hymns), in which K. voices the sorrow of the human spirit struggling with its Creator, but gradually grows calm in a faith that beholds Him as the giver of suffering and of the stigmata, from which love for created beings is born. The lyric collections that follow are marked by this love (Chwile, "Moments"; Mój świat, "My World"); and they reach perfection in Księga ubogich ("The Book of the Poor"), pervaded as well by the beauty of nature. K. was also the author of several poems and a perfect translator of masterpieces from various European literatures.
Bibliography4 worksZ. Wasilewski, J. K., Warsaw 1923; St. Kołaczkowski, Twórczość J. K., Kraków 1923; E. Lo Gatto, Glinni di J. K. e la loro genesi, in Studi d
BIBL.: Z. Wasilewski, J. K., Warsaw 1923; St. Kołaczkowski, Twórczość J. K., Kraków 1923; E. Lo Gatto, Glinni di J. K. e la loro genesi, in Studi di lett. slave, II, Rome 1925-31, pp. 23-30; K. Górski, Tatry i Podhale w twórczości J. K., Zakopane 1926.
Bersano, Begey Marina. “Kasprowicz, jan.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VII, coll. 657–658. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1951. https://azioneromana.com/article/kasprowicz-jan.
MLA
Bersano, Begey Marina. “Kasprowicz, jan.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VII, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1951, coll. 657–658. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/kasprowicz-jan.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec7_kasprowicz_jan,
author = {Bersano, Begey Marina},
title = {Kasprowicz, jan},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {VII},
pages = {657--658},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1951},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/kasprowicz-jan}
}
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