Adam Mickiewicz
translated by Kenneth R. MacKenzie

Pan Tadeusz "Master Thaddeus", 1834 masterpiece, the great poetic epic describes the life of the Polish gentry in the early 19th century through a fictional account of the feud between two families of Polish nobles; the poem conveys perfectly the ethos of an archaic society in which the ideals of chivalry are still alive and shows the effect of the Napoleonic myth on honest and simple minds, to whom the French emperor is an instrument of Providence). In his poems there was a lot of love for his country so his poetry has meant a great deal to the next generations reading it. Written by Adam Mickiewicz (1798-1855) regarded as the most famous/greatest Polish poet as well as a patriot and lifelong apostle of Polish national freedom. In 1823 he was arrested for nationalist activities and deported to Russia. After 1829 he lived in Western Europe but devoted himself to the cause of Polish independence.