KASPROWICZ, JAN. - Polish poet, b. at Szymbor on 12 Dec. 1860, d. at Poronin on 2 Aug. 1926. Of peasant family, he spent his adolescence and youth studying and struggling with poverty. He took part in the resistance against Prussian rule
and was imprisoned; in 1889 he settled in Leopoli and was appointed professor of comparative literature because of his great philological competence.
K. is considered one of the greatest poets of his time for the power 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 Ending”) are a powerful portrayal of the misery and ignorance of the people. The contrast between spirit and matter, between faith and scepticism, finds sublime expression in the Inni, in which K. expresses the suffering of the human spirit struggling with its Creator, but which gradually finds peace in a faith that sees Him as the giver of suffering and of the stigmata, from which love for creatures is born. The lyrical collections that follow are marked by this love (Chwile, “Moments”; Mój ściat, “My World”); and attain perfection in Księga ubogich (“The Book of the Poor”), also pervaded by the beauty of nature. K. was also the author of several poems and a masterly translator of masterpieces from various European literatures.