[4] In 1836 he was found guilty of spreading pro-Polish and anti-government leaflets and poems (on the anniversary of the recent November uprising);[3] he was imprisoned from January of that year till mid-1837 and for the first several months he was locked in a single cell without any light.

[4][5] He continued his education unofficially (he was mostly self-taught), although later he would receive some help from his mentor, August Bielowski), concentrating first on linguistics (he started in prison where by reading grammar books he learned the English language), later on literature and history.

[4] In 1839 he first published his own literary works; he wrote poems, novels, dramas and historical essays as well as translate (primarily from Serbian language).

[4] He wrote many works, on Polish kings Bolesław Chrobry (1849), Władysław Łokietek (between 1849 and 1854), Władysław Jagiełło (Jogaila) and Queen Jadwiga of Poland (1855–1856), Kazimierz the Great, marshal, hetman, voivode, and magnate Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski and others (Szkice historyczne (1854—1869), Dwa lata dziejow naszych, 1646 i1648 (1865–1869), Obrazy lechickie, Śmierc Czarnieckiego, Obyczaje pierwotnych Słowian).

[3][4] His works became known outside the academic circles,[3] and were reportedly read, among others, by the future Nobel Prize winning Polish author Henryk Sienkiewicz.