Іn the Shadow of Maryla Vereshchaka (Puttkamer): Karolina Kowalska – Adam Mickevich’s Muse

Abstract

After graduating from Vilnius University, Adam Mickiewicz went to Kaunas to work out the government scholarship he received during his studies. A lonely young teacher who was separated from his friends – philomathians, from the university library and did not really like his work – met a very beautiful married woman, mother of 4 children, Karolina Kowalska. Her eldest son Konstantin studied with Mickiewicz, and the meeting between the teacher and the student's mother was destined by fate. Venus of Koven, Kovalska, became the guardian and later the lover of the young teacher and poet, whose fame was slowly expanding. Karolina was Mickiewicz's muse, thank to whom poems, ballads and poems where she is mentioned were written. Carolina was a truly loving and beloved woman to Adam. She, not Maryla Puttkamer, was by Mickiewicz's side until the last minute during his arrest, after it, and when he was sent from the Motherland to Russian exile. She didn't think about fame, honor, memory – she just loved and did everything to make her loved one happy. And he was really happy, as his Philomath friends noted in their letters.