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Today’s Google Doodle is inspired not by a person but a poem - marking 185 years since the publication of Pan Tadeusz.

The poem, which was first published in 1834, is written by the Polish Romantic poet Adam Mickiewicz and is often thought to be one of the last epic poems in European literature.

Google says the 12-part saga “captures the spirit of Poland at a time when much of its territory was partitioned between Russia, Prussia and Austria.”

Here’s everything you need to know about Mickiewicz’s Pan Tadeusz:

What is Pan Tadeusz about?

Pan Tadeusz’s full title translates in English to read: Sir Thaddeus, or the Last Lithuanian Foray: A Nobleman’s Tale from the Years of 1811 and 1812 Pan Twelve Books of Verse.

If you thought that was a mouthful, just wait until you read the poem’s swirling narrative. Set during the years 1811 and 1812 in a Lithuanian town, the tale centres on a feud between two prominent families, the Soplicas and the Horeszkos. and the love between Tadeusz Soplica of one family and Zosia of the other.

Google went on to describe the plot in further detail: “A revolt against the local Russian garrison brings the families together, inspired by a shared passion to restore Poland to its former glory: ‘When talk was to raise Poland again from this rubble.’”

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Who was Adam Mickiewicz?

Born in 1798 during the reign of the Russian Empire, Mickiewicz became a political activist and lifelong apostle of Polish national freedom, themes he expresses in aspects of his work.

Whilst still at university, Mickiewicz joined the Philomats’ Society and was later arrested by the czar’s secret police and charged with unlawful political activities.

Later works, such as Konrad Wallenrod (1828), would explore themes of Polish identity and cement his central position in Polish literature.

Why is his poem being celebrated with a Google Doodle?

Since its publication, Pan Tadeusz has been translated into numerous languages and has been adapted for TV and film, most recently in 1999 by Polish director Andrzej Wajda. It also remains required reading in many Polish schools.

As well as being an important work of literature, it also acts as a historical account of the environment in which it was birthed.