SOURCE: Matual, David. “Solov'ev's Evaluation of Mickiewicz as Man and Artist.” Slavic and East European Journal 29, no. 1 (1985) 63-72.

In the following essay, Matual presents Russian writer and scholar Vladimir Solov'ev's theories on and praise of Mickiewicz.

Since the period of his Russian exile in the 1820s, Adam Mickiewicz has enjoyed a generally favorable reputation as a poet among the Russian reading public. No less a figure than Puškin himself, whom Mickiewicz met in 1826, praised his artistry and humanity in the poem “On meždu nami žil.” Yet the same poem ends on a note of disappointment and resentment. In the final lines Mickiewicz is branded an “enemy” of Russia, who “steeps his verses in poison.”¹ The ambiguity of Puškin's sentiments became typical of the Russian attitude toward the Polish poet. While the quality of his verse was uncontested, the philosophical thought of his later period was...