Edmund Bogdanowicz

Edmund Bogdanowicz (1859–25 June 1911) was a Polish poet, writer and journalist.

Bioography

Edmund Bogdanowicz was born in Warsaw in 1859. Before his premature death, at 51, Bogdanowicz published a large number of poems and numerous articles in the leading Polish magazines of his day. Four of his books were published posthumously. His poetry drew on the rhythms of Polish dance, the richness of nature and the Polish countryside that he loved. Bogdanowicz had four sons by Maria Tymowska: Jozef, Marian, Stanislaw and Jan. He died in Grodzisk and is buried in the Powazki cemetery in Warsaw.

The most extensive biography of Bogdanowicz is that in the Anniversary edition of "Kurier Warszawski", written while he was still alive. According to the "Kurier", he completed high school (gimnazjum) in Warsaw and then studied maths at Dresden Technical University and then went on to the Universities of Warsaw and Petersburg. In Petersburg he worked for the magazine "Kraj" (Nation). Arriving in Warsaw in 1885, he joined the "Kurier Warszawski", covering the Russian press and regional correspondence. He also published weekly literary columns under the pseudonym ‘Swistek’ as well as articles on education. He is described as a mathematician, biologist and the author of many popular science articles, ‘but above all else he is a poet.’ He usually wrote poetry under the pseudonym ‘Bozydar’ (synonymous with Bogdan) and science articles under 'Deodat'. Most of his poetry was published in the "Kurier" and the Anniversary edition of the magazine lists several dozen works (both poetry and essays) written between 1885 and 1896. In addition to his contributions to the "Kurier", Bogdanowicz was also secretary of the editorial board. In his work, Bogdanowicz drew on his knowledge of Russian, German, Latin and Ancient Greek.

As well as writing for the "Kurier", Bogdanowicz made contributions to other leading Polish publications of the day notably "Klosy", "Wiek", "Tygodnik Illustrowany" and "Wedrowca". For a period, Bogdanowicz worked as a teacher at the Prof. Poplawski school in Piotrkow, where he also wrote for the "Tygodnik Piotrkowski" (Piotrkow Weekly).

References

* Obituaries and letters in Kurier Warszawski 1911, Kurier Warszawski Ksiega Jubileuszowa 1896, Encyclopedia Orgelbrandta, Polski Slownik Biograficzny.
* Books by Edmund Bogdanowicz: "Pan Zagloba i Dyogenes" (Essays) 1903, "W Srebrnym Krolestwie" 1923, "Blekitna Pantera, Sepie Gniazdo" 1922, 1991