Juliusz Slowacki`s Agamemnon`s Tomb A Polish Oresteia

The importance of Juliusz Slowacki (18091849) as Polands second greatest Romantic poet, after Adam Mickiewicz (17981856), is a platitude. Yet, in the English-speaking world, Slowacki receives little more than honorable mention even among students of Slavic literature. The intention of the authors of Agamemnons Tomb: A Polish Oresteia is to focus on Slowackis use of Antiquity in his most famous lyric, Agamemnons Tomb, written in 1839 Since Antiquity is an essential part of the fabric of Romantic poetry, of all works of Polish Romanticism, Agamemnons Tomb fits best into the larger framework of European Romanticism. It is grounded in the ancient and therefore universal language of the epoch probably more than any other European Romantic poem. If I am a poet, the air of Greece has made me one, Lord Byron once remarked. What is true of Byron is equally true of Slowacki and his literary output, where antique themes and elements flow like a torrent through virtually all his works. What makes Agamemnons Tomb unique, however, even when compared to the British or German Romantic literature, so saturated with ancient themes, is that it harnesses Antiquity as an interpretative mirror for Slowackis understanding of the history of Poland and the Polish national character. This is the first book in English that offers the American reader a chance to encounter one of Polands greatest poets and a work of European Romanticism at its best. It provides the Polish text with the first new full translation of the text and a stanza-by-stanza commentary that emphasizes Slowackis debt to Greek and Roman authors.