page_title: Juliusz Słowacki
section_title: Emigration
hierarchical_section_title: Juliusz Słowacki / Life / Emigration
caption_attribution_description: English: Juliusz Słowacki
context_page_description: Juliusz Słowacki was a Polish Romantic poet. He is considered one of the "Three Bards" of Polish literature — a major figure in the Polish Romantic period, and the father of modern Polish drama. His works often feature elements of Slavic pagan traditions, Polish history, mysticism and orientalism. His style includes the employment of neologisms and irony. His primary genre was the drama, but he also wrote lyric poetry. His most popular works include the dramas Kordian and Balladyna and the poems Beniowski, Testament mój and Anhelli.
  Słowacki spent his youth in the "Stolen Lands", in Kremenets and Vilnius. He briefly worked for the government of the Kingdom of Poland. During the November 1830 Uprising, he was a courier for the Polish revolutionary government. When the uprising ended in defeat, he found himself abroad and thereafter, like many compatriots, lived the life of an émigré. He settled briefly in Paris, France, and later in Geneva, Switzerland. He also traveled through Italy, Greece and the Middle East. Eventually he returned to Paris, where he spent the last decade of his life. He briefly returned to Poland when another uprising broke out during the Spring of Nations.
context_section_description: Like many of his countrymen, Słowacki decided to stay in France as a political refugee. In 1832 he published his first collections of poems and his first two dramas (Mindowe and Maria Stuart). He also met Mickiewicz again; reportedly, Mickiewicz approached his younger colleague and shook his hand. However, Słowacki's poems, written in the 1820s, were unpopular among his Polish compatriots, as they failed to capture the sentiment of a people living under foreign occupation. Słowacki was angered by Mickiewicz, who not only stole the limelight with his Księgi narodu polskiego i pielgrzymstwa polskiego (Books of the Polish nation and pilgrimage), but his part three of Dziady (1832) cast Słowacki's stepfather, professor Bécu, in the role of a villain. In a letter to his mother Słowacki wrote that immediately after reading that work he was ready to challenge Mickiewicz for a duel; that did not come to pass but from that moment on, Słowacki would see Mickiewicz as his main rival. Few days later, antagonized by worsening reception of his works among the Polish émigré community in Paris, including sharp criticism from Mickiewicz, Słowacki left on a trip to Geneva, Switzerland. The French authorities denied him the right to return to France as part of a larger program to rid the country of the potentially subversive Polish exiles who had settled there.
  From 1833–36, he lived in Switzerland. A third volume of his poems, published in 1833 and containing works from the period of the Uprising, was far more nationalist in tone, and won more recognition in his homeland. At the same time, he wrote several works featuring romantic themes, and beautiful scenery, such as W Szwajcarii (In Switzerland), Rozłączenie (Separation), Stokrótki (Daisies) and Chmury (Clouds).
  In 1834 he published the drama Kordian, a romantic drama, illustrating the soul searching of the Polish people in the aftermath of the failed insurrection; this work is considered one of his best creations.
  In 1836, Słowacki left Switzerland and embarked on a journey that started in Italy. In Rome he met and befriended Zygmunt Krasiński, the third of the Three Bards. Krasiński is also considered the first serious literary critic of Słowacki's work. Słowacki would dedicate several of his works, including Balladyna, to Krasiński. From Rome, Słowacki went to Naples and later, to Sorrento. In August he left for Greece (Corfu, Argos, Athens, Syros), Egypt (Alexandria, Cairo, El Arish) and the Middle East, including the Holy Land (Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Jericho, Nazareth) and neighboring territories (Damascus, Beirut). It was a journey Słowacki described in his epic poem Podróż do Ziemi Świętej z Neapolu ("Travel to the Holy Land from Naples"); his other works of that period inclucded the poem Ojciec zadżumionych (The Father of the Plague-stricken), Grób Agamemnon (Agamemnon's Grave), Rozmowa z piramidami (A talk with the pyramids), Anhelli and Listy poetyckie z Egiptu (Poetic Letters from Egypt). In June 1837 he returned to Italy, settling briefly in Florence, and moved back to Paris in December 1838.
  In 1840 Mickiewicz was elected to the position of professor of Slavic literature at Collége de France; it was one of the events that cemented his position over Słowacki in the Polish émigré community. The rivalry between the two Bards for primacy would continue till the ends of lives. In 1841 Słowacki traveled briefly to Frankfurt, but Paris would become his main home till his death. In 1840 and 1841 he wrote two notable dramas: Mazepa, the only of his dramas that was put on stage during his lifetime, and Fantazy, published posthumously, well received by critics. Over the next few years Słowacki wrote and published many works, including Testament mój (My Last Will), in which he described his faith that his works would endure after his death.
  Between 1841 and 1846, he published Beniowski, considered by some his best lyrical poetry. Starting as a story of a historical figure, it developed into a discussion of the poet's own life and opinions. In 1842 he joined the religious-philosophical 
caption: Słowacki, by Tytus Byczkowski
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