A Funeral Rhapsody in Memory of General Bem

Józef Bem as Hungarian commander-in-chief

A Funeral Rhapsody in Memory of General Bem (in Polish Bema pamięci żałobny rapsod) is a poem by Polish poet Cyprian Kamil Norwid.[1] It is an elegy for a famous Polish commander Józef Bem[2] who was a hero of three nations, Polish, Hungarian and Turkish. It was written in 1851. The poem is a description of a imaginary funeral. It is described as a funeral of a medieval knight or Slavic warrior, encased in armour, with his horse and a falcon, accompanied by groups of boys and girls.[3] The poem is especially interesting because of its form. It was written in rhymed hexameter. All the lines are made up of fifteen (7+8) syllables according to the pattern ' x ' x x ' x || ' x x ' x x ' x.[4]

Norwid's poem was translated into English by Adam Czerniawski. It was sung by Czesław Niemen.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Jerzy R. Krzyzanowski, Cyprian Norwid, Polish poet at Encyclopaedia Britannica.
  2. ↑ Józef Zachariasz Bem, Polish general at Encyclopaedia Britannica.
  3. ↑ Lucylla Pszczołowska, Wiersz polski. Zarys historyczny, Fundacja na Rzecz Nauki Polskiej, Wrocław 1997, p. 218.
  4. ↑ Wiktor Jarosław Darasz, Mały przewodnik po wierszu polskim, Towarzystwo Miłośników Języka Polskiego, Kraków 2003, p. 72.
  5. ↑ Gitarzysta Niemena: kocham ten czas, kiedy grałem z Czesławem at Polskie Radio Official Site.

Bibliography

Cyprian Kamil Norwid, Poezje. Poems. Selection, translation and afterword by Adam Czerniawski, Wydawnictwo Literackie, Kraków 1986, ISBN 83-08-01469-0.

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