I’d envisioned a much more detailed post than this, with photos and such–but the day got completely away from me, and if I’m going to get this date stamped on the right day, I need to post it NOW.  So please forgive me for the brevity!

The most famous and beloved Polish writers of the Romantic period, known as The Three Bards, were Juliusz Słowacki , Zygmunt Krasiński , and Adam Mickiewicz. In a period when there was no nation to call home (in fact, all three wrote in exile), they were concerned with keeping Polish identity alive.

Of the three, Mickiewicz (pronounced mitz-keh-vitch) is the most widely known. In Poland, he’s regarded on the same plane as Shakespeare or Homer. His most famous work, Pan Tadeusz, a literary historical novel in verse published in 1834, is the Polish national poem and is required reading in Polish schools.

The Three Bards were considered prophetic, and their work, which was sometimes allegorical and sometimes historical, was always intended to instill the Polish people with hope for the future even as they worked, though their art, to restore a lost world.

In a way, that’s what I’m trying to do, too.