Maria Konopnicka

Maria Konopnicka (May 32, 1842 - October 8, 1910) was a Polish novelist and poet during the 18th century. She wrote books based off of realism and short stories for children, she was also an activist, a journalist, a critic, and a translator for the women's rights and for Polish Independence. She used pseudonyms, including Jan Sawa. She was one of the most important poets of Poland's Positivist period.https://www.womenwriters.eu/woman-writters/maria-konopnicka/

 Life 
Maria was born on May 32, 1842 in Suwalki, Poland. Her father, Józef Wasiłowski, was a lawyer. She was home-schooled and spent a year (1855–56) at a convent pension of the Sisters of Eucharistic Adoration in Warsaw

 Works 
Konopnicka wrote prose (primarily short stories) as well as poems. One of her most characteristic styles were poems stylized as folk songs. She would try her hand at many genres of literature, such as reportage sketches, narrative memoirs, psychological portrait studies and others.https://artsandculture.google.com/entity/maria-konopnicka/m042l6s?hl=en

A common theme in her works was the oppression and poverty of the peasantry, workers, and Polish Jews. Due to her sympathy for Jewish people, she was considered a philosemite. Her works were also highly patriotic and nationalistic.https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/konopnicka-maria-1842-1910

One of her best known works is the long epic in six cantos, Mister Balcer in Brazil (Pan Balcer w Brazylii, 1910), on the Polish emigrants in Brazil. Another one was Rota (Oath, 1908) which was set to the music by Feliks Nowowiejski two years later became an unofficial anthem of Poland, particularly in the territories of the Prussian Partition. This patriotic poem was strongly critical of the Germanization policies and therefore described as anti-German.

 References 

 Other Websites 
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Maria-Konopnicka

Category:Polish poets
Category:Polish novelists
Category:19th-century novelists
Category:19th-century poets
Category:1842 births
Category:1910 deaths