Dziady (poem)

[3] The drama's title refers to Dziady, an ancient Slavic and Lithuanian feast commemorating the dead (the "forefathers").

The main reason for associating bard's and his hero's biography is the resemblance of what Gustaw (the protagonist of the drama) says about his tragic youth.

When he was depressed, he wrote the IV part of "Dziady", one of the most beautiful Polish poems about love and also a fascinating example of the romantic poetry.

It is him, not his teacher who eventually notions to the philosophy of Enlightenment and visualizes the true picture of the world, which is the reality conducted by paranormal laws.

It shows a young girl and boy, feeling confused with and trying to choose between the sentimental idea of love, adjustment to the society and respect to own nature.

Mickiewicz dedicated his work to people fighting for Polish freedom in the 1830s insurrection and especially to those who were exiled to Siberia by the Russian Tsar.

In his monologue, commonly known as "The Great Improvisation" (Wielka Improwizacja), he is talking to God about his patriotic feelings and personal misfortune.

He is ready to fight against God (comparing himself to Satan, but claiming that he will be the more challenging enemy, because, unlike his predecessor, in this battle he will use heart, not reason) for improving the fate of his nation and whole humanity.

Describing a person who will bring back the freedom of Poland, he says: "The Son of a foreign mother, in his blood old heroes And his name will be forty and four".

Zdzisław Kępiński [pl], however, focuses his interpretation on Slavic pagan and occult elements found in the drama.

A performance of Dziady took place in Kraków's Teatr Miejski (City Theater) in 1901, directed by Stanisław Wyspiański.

The first postwar production, a major cultural event, opened in November 1945, during the 1945-46 theater season, at Teatr Miejski in Opole.

Three years later, Leon Schiller began work on a production of Dziady at Teatr Polski (the Polish Theater) in Warsaw.

The next production of Dziady in post-World War II Poland was staged only after Joseph Stalin's death and took place in November 1955 at Warsaw's Teatr Polski.