«Wiersz o Sztuce Aktorskiej» (A Poem on the Art of Acting) by Ludwik Osiński in the Light of Pedagogical Theories

Katarzyna Buczek

Abstract

In the spring of 1803, the periodical Nowy Pamiętnik Warszawski published “Wiersz o sztuce aktorskiej ofiarowany aktorce zaczynającej” (‘A Poem on the Art of Acting Offered to A Debuting Actress’) composed by Ludwik Osiński. It was dedicated to Rozalia Bogusławska, a daughter of the managing director of the National Theatre, Wojciech Bogusławski. Rozalia debuted on stage a year earlier, and later on, married the author of the poem. The poem is not, as the title might suggest, addressed just to beginners. It shows thorough knowledge of general pedagogy, education and didactics, which Ludwik Osiński possessed by virtue of his education and profession. He had been educated at a Piarist divinity school, worked as a tutor and teacher; he also ran, in co-operation with Konstanty Wolski, a boarding school for boys, so he was well-versed in the pedagogical theories by John Amos Comenius, François Fénelon, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He deployed them in the poem he composed, which referred to matters broader than just pedagogy of the acting profession.