The Hunt, the Forest, the Machine. In the Eyes of Karolina Proniewska of Samogitia and Włodzimierz Wysocki from Kyiv

Abstract

The author of the study analyses two poetic works from the 19th century, whose topic is the hunt: the poem Polowanie [The Hunt] of 1858 by Karolina Proniewska (1828–1859), a Polish poet from Samogitia, and the poem Las [The Forest] of 1885 by Włodzimierz Wysocki (1846–1894), a Polish poet from Kyiv. The analysis of the texts reveals a private and social background of the genesis of both works and the transformation of attitudes towards the social ritual of hunting that was so popular among Polish gentry. In the poem by Wysocki, a perspective of civilizational and national cataclysm is drawn (cutting down the forest, end of feelings, death), while Proniewska reveals a new, environmental awareness of early modern humans, who do not hunt to kill anymore; they hunt to show their sensitivity. The comparison reveals a shared motif of hunting, though developed from contrasting perspectives. Proniewska presents hunting as both literal and metaphorical, an allegory of courtship, where true victory lies in compassion and restraint. Her poem elevates sensitivity, mercy, and moral awareness, deconstructing the noble ethos of the hunt and affirming life as synonymous with love. In contrast, Wysocki depicts the ritual of the hunt as an empty form in a devastated Ukrainian landscape. The destruction of the forest – once a space of refuge for insurgents and of symbolic vitality – marks not only ecological ruin but also social, national, and civilizational catastrophe. For the positivist writer, this signals disillusionment with progress and assimilation, exposing apocalyptic undertones of modernity. Together, the texts illustrate the cultural shift of the 19th century: the collapse of traditional hunting rituals and the rise of a new ecological and moral sensibility. Proniewska voices the dawn of modern sensitivity, while Wysocki registers the crisis of civilization, both uncovering the intellectual gains of a provincial perspective. Their juxtaposition highlights the dual legacy of the century: hope for renewal through empathy and despair at irreversible decline. Thus, the two works together reveal how peripheral voices articulated both ecological awareness and civilizational anxiety.