Adam Mickiewicz (1798-1855) is arguably Poland’s greatest poet. Born in Nowogródek in what is now Belarus, he is often compared to Goethe and Byron, and was the dominant figure in Poland’s Romantic Movement. Banished as a political subversive to central Russia in 1824, he was welcomed into the leading literary circles of Saint Petersburg and Moscow where he became a favorite for his agreeable manners and extraordinary talent for poetic improvisation. In 1829, he left the Russian Empire for a life of perpetual exile in Italy, France and Switzerland. For three years he lectured on Slavic literature at the Collège de France in Paris. He died in Constantinople while helping organize Polish and Jewish forces against Tsarism in the Crimean War of 1855. Among his great works besides Pan Tadeusz are his poetic drama Dziady (Forefathers’ Eve), his historical narrative poems Grażyna and Konrad Wallenrod, and his sublime Crimean Sonnets. His body rests in the crypt of the Wawel Cathedral in Kraków, Poland.