![]() |
Czeslaw Milosz Poland (1911 - 2004) Timeline Secular or Eclectic Christian : Catholic Poems by Czeslaw Milosz Books - Links |
Milosz was born in a small town in Lithuania during the final years of czarist Russia. At the end of World War I, while he was still a boy, his family moved to Vilna (Vilnius). There, he received a rigorous Roman Catholic education, but one that didn't allow for much intellectual freedom or exploration.
After graduating from the University of Vilna in 1934 with a degree in law, Czeslaw Milosz traveled to Paris, where he connected with his uncle, a diplomat who put Milosz in touch with the Parisian literary community.
Czeslaw Milosz settled in Warsaw just before the German invasion at the beginning of World War II. He became a leading figure in the Warsaw literary scene, and championed art that was both personal and political, rather than merely an expression of aesthetic craft. As the war and occupation continued, Milosz became a writer for the Polish resistance movement.
At the end of the war, when Poland fell under Communist control, Milosz briefly became a diplomat in the service of the new government. However, in the early 1950s, he sought asylum in France, along with his wife and children.
In 1960, Milosz moved to the United States, becoming a professor at the University of California at Berkeley.
Very late in life, Czeslaw Milosz returned to Poland as a cultural hero, and settled in Krakow. It is there that he died in 2004.
Poems by Czeslaw Milosz
- A Song on the End of the World
- Encounter
- Forget
- Gift
- Late Ripeness
- Love
- On Angels
- On Pilgrimage
- On Prayer
- This Only
Recommended Books: Czeslaw Milosz
Related Links
Czeslaw Milosz
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/milosz.htm
A good biography of Milosz.
Czeslaw Milosz | poetry archive | plagiarist.com
http://www.plagiarist.com/poetry/?aid=98
A few poems online.
Czeslaw Milosz Home Page
http://library.thinkquest.org/11959/milosz/00milo.htm%3ftqskip=1
Biography, commentary, some links.
NPR: Requiem for a Poet: Czeslaw Milosz
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3852112
NPR recording with poet/translator Robert Hass in honor of the life and poetry of Milosz.
Czeslaw Milosz - Writers from Poland
http://www.culture.pl/web/english/resources-literature-full-page/-/eo_event_asset_publisher/eAN5/content/czeslaw-milosz
Biography on a website exploring Polish writing and literature.