Sentymentalizm a preromantyzm

The post-partition period of the Polish literature is characterized by a diversity of forms and styles of literary expression. In this period, one can observe a distinct correlation of Classicist and Sentimentalist elements (often within a single work) or even a tendency of crowding out the former by the latter, which would lead straight to development of a new era in the history of Polish literature, namely, romanticism. For many years, literary history studies defi ned the entire literary output of late 18th and the first two decades of the 19th century as preromanticism (as a separate literary period). This article attempts to prove that some early-romanticist tendencies did function, but only in the form of literary phenomena manifesting themselves within the assumptions of late sentimentalism. Unquestionably, many studies of sentimentalism of King Stanisław’s era have already been written, and the works of outstanding representatives of this movement have been subject to multiple analyses and interpretations. However, the literature of late sentimentalism remains a poorly studied area, requiring in-depth literary-history studies. It is the problems around the issues connected with the post-partition sentimentalism which become the subject of inquiries by the author of the article.