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Karolina Proniewska (Template:Lang-lt, 1828 - 1859) was a Lithuanian romantic poet and translator. Sometimes referred to as a Samogitian Bard. She is best known as the person to convince Antanas Baranauskas, a great Lithuanian poet and one of the classics of that language, to write in the Lithuanian language.

Biography

Karolina Anna Proniewska, a Samogitian noblewoman, was born January 18, 1828 in Padurbinys, a small manor near Telšiai. Her father, Teofil Proniewski of Korwin, was an assessor at the local court, while her mother was Eleonora née Dobszewicz. Young Karolina Proniewska started to write poems already at the age of seven. Her father died when she was seven and her mother had difficulties supporting both the manor and the family. The girl suffered from tuberculosis, and her eldest brother forbade her to read any books or write poetry, which was supposed to harm her poor health. She however disobeyed. Soon she moved to Telšiai, where she started working as a teacher. Another of her brothers, Otton Proniewski, financed publication of a book of her poems, which made her famous in the lands of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania, partly due to publications in the Warsaw Gazette, one of the most respected Polish language newspapers at that time.

Although she wrote in Polish language and not in Lithuanian, with time she also made several translation of Polish language classics into that language. Among the most notable of such translations is Matka węży by Józef Ignacy Kraszewski. In 1855, thanks to her sister Tekla, she met Antanas Baranauskas, a young poet working as a clerk at the nearby farm in Seda. The couple started to exchange letters and, with time, also poems. Proniewska convinced Baranauskas to start writing his poems also in the Lithuanian language. Her brother Otton helped her friend to pass the exams to the Catholic school in Varniai, the only way a poor peasant could gain education in 19th century Russia. With time Baranauskas became one of the classics of modern Lithuanian literature and one of the founding fathers of modern Lithuanian culture. It is commonly accepted that Proniewska had been his friend, good spirit and patron. However, soon before Proniewska's death, she ordered all their letters and her memoirs burnt and little documentation of their relations survived to our times. She died at the age of 31, on May 26, 1859. She was buried at a local cemetery in Utena, where she spent the last months of her life. Not a single picture of her survived.

Notes and references

1. Mukienė, Danutė (2003-05-15). "Žemaitijos rašytojai" (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 2007-04-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
2. ^ Template:Pl icon Krystyna Syrnicka (2002). "Karolina Proniewska - zapomniana poetka ze Żmudzi". Nasz Czas (in Polish). 20 (559): 25. ISSN 1641-7933 OCLC 69526313. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
3. Egidijus Aleksandravičius (2003). Giesmininko kelias (in Lithuanian). Vilnius: Versus Aureus. ISBN 9955-601-00-0.
4. Template:Lt icon R. Mikšytë, Antano Baranausko kuryba, Vilnius 1964

• 1828 births
• 1859 deaths
• Polish poets
• Polish translators
• Lithuanian translators