The starting point for Polish Romantics was, as for many of their Western counterparts, the focus on the self. But personal existence was represented as a worthy sacrifice for the sake of the national cause. In the aftermath of the failure of the 1830 Uprising, pessimism, melancholy, and metaphysical and political rebellion were countered by messianic ideas of the émigré poets. Idealism, led to religious belief, whether Catholicism or less orthodox systems. The confrontation of the individual with history was therefore enacted on the metaphysical plane, and presented mainly in the dramatic form, which became the domineering genre in the post-1831 period. Through the deep belief in the ethical and social roles of poetry Polish Romantics played a crucial part in preserving the national identity of their readers, truly earning the status ofwieszcz, the poet-prophet.
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