Konrad Wallenrod is an 1828 narrative poem, in Polish, by Adam Mickiewicz, set in the 14th-century Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Mickiewicz wrote it, while living in St. Petersburg, Russia, in protest against the late-18th-century partitioning of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and Austria.
Mickiewicz had been exiled to St. Petersburg for his participation in the Philomaths organization at Wilno University.
The poem helped inspire the Polish November 1830 Uprising against Russian rule. Though its subversive theme was apparent to most readers, the poem escaped censorship due to conflicts among the censors and, in the second edition, a prefatory homage to Tsar Nicholas I. Though Mickiewicz later disparaged the work, its cultural influence in Poland persists.
Read more about Konrad Wallenrod: Plot, Cultural Influences
Famous quotes containing the word konrad:
“... So damn your food and damn your wines,
Your twisted loaves and twisting vines,
Your table dhôte, your à la carte,
. . . .
From now on you can keep the lot.
Take every single thing youve got,
Your land, your wealth, your men, your dames,
Your dream of independent power,
And dear old Konrad Adenauer,
And stick them up your Eiffel Tower.”
—Anthony Jay (b. 1930)