“FAREWELL TO KREMIENIEC 1939” BY STANISLAW BALINSKI

Abstract

The article refers to the life and works by Stanislaw Balinski (1898–1984), Polish poet, writer, diplomat
and activist in exile. The author of the text focuses on three main issues: he presents Balinski’s relation
with the city of Krzemieniec and the Slowackis family, he gives a brief review od poet’s works, and analyzes
S. Balinski’s poem “Farewell to Krzemieniec 1939” („Pożegnanie z Krzemieńcem 1939”). The analysis
of the poem leads to the conclusion that „Pożegnanie z Krzemieńcem 1939” should be read mainly
as a symbolic piece — as a farewell to the past romantic period („przeszłość romantyczna”). Krzemieniec
in this poem is not only a real town in Poland just before the Second World War but it is mostly a symbol
of the whole country destroyed by the historical events.