Electric Romanticism. Literature and Science in the early 19th Century Poland
Electric Romanticism. Literature and Science in the early 19th Century Poland

Summary/Abstract: In my paper I would like to outline the electric genesis of the school of Romantic literature which emerged in the years 1820-1830 in Poland. I analyze literary metaphors covering the subject of electricity in works of Adam Mickiewicz, and the theory of romantic literature belonging to Maurycy Mochnacki who explained the importance of literature in the context of electricity. I claim that the key impulses for the emergence of a new sensitivity were introduced through scientific speculation about the nature and operation of electricity by Polish and Western scientists. The metaphor of electricity designated this invisible, but active force in the world of dead matter. It became an allegory for the activist that shares its soul with nature. It was synonymous with fire and in early popularization practices it was described simply as “heavenly fire”. Furthermore, it designated the role of cognizing subject. In romantic theory the action of speculative reason, the unfettered force of penetration of matter resembles the effect of free, electric power in the ether. Due to such speculative, metaphysical meanings the metaphor of electricity was a key element of romantic imagination, marking the social and cultural experience.

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