SKAMANDER

group of young Polish poets who were united in their desire to forge a new poetic language that would accurately reflect the experience of modern life. Founded in Warsaw about 1918, the Skamander group took its name, and the name of their monthly publication, from a river of ancient Troy. The group was cofounded by Jaroslaw Iwaszkiewicz, known primarily for his novels and short stories, and Julian Tuwim, a lyrical poet of emotional power and linguistic sensitivity, best remembered for the collections Czyhanie na Boga (1918; Lying in Wait for God) and Biblia cyganska (1933; The Gypsy Bible) and the long autobiographical poem Kwiaty polskie (1949; Polish Flowers). Also associated with the group were Kazimierz Wierzynski, Jan Lechon (pseudonym of Leszek Serafinowicz), and Antoni Slonimski. Among sympathizers with Skamander were Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska, who had a gift for expressing emotion, and Wladyslaw Broniewski, a powerful lyrical poet who used traditional metres and forms to express concern with current social and ideological problems. A writer of great importance was Boleslaw Lesmian, considered the outstanding 20th-century Polish lyrical poet. His symbolic Expressionist poetry, collected in Laka (1920; The Meadow), Napj cienisty (1936; The Shadowy Drink), and Dziejba lesna (1938; Woodland Tale), is remarkable for the inventiveness of its vocabulary, its sensuous imagery, and philosophic content.