TUWIM, JULIAN

born Sept. 13, 1894, Ldz, Pol. died Dec. 27, 1953, Zakopane lyric poet who was leader of the 20th-century group of Polish poets called Skamander (q.v.). Tuwim spent his life in Poland, except for five years of exile in Brazil and the United States during World War II. He began his career in 1915 with the publication of a flamboyant Futurist manifesto that created a scandal and presented a position that he soon abandoned. Tuwim's poetry throughout his life was marked by explosive energy and great emotional tension. Among his works published in the years before World War II are Czyhanie na Boga (1918; Lying in Wait for God), Sokrates Tanczacy (1920; The Dancing Socrates), and his most important collection, Slowa we Krwi (1926; Words in Blood). During his exile he wrote a long, discursive autobiographical poem, Kwiaty polskie (1949; Polish Flowers), and also produced a volume of children's songs.