Lange came from a Jewish family with Polish patriotic traditions. His father took part in the November Uprising, whilst Lange himself was expelled for his political activities from the University of Warsaw, where he had been studying natural sciences. Between 1886 and 1890 he stayed in Paris, where he began studying philosophy, literature and language. At the same time, he was a correspondent for Warsaw-based magazines: Głos, Życie and Przegląd Tygodniowy. During this period, he was employed as a Polish language teacher and a collaborator of the emigrant magazine Pobudka. He became acquainted with new trends in art. was familiar with the culture and languages of the East and also attended ‘Thursday lunches’ at Mallarmy’s. After returning to Poland, he took up literary criticism and publishing.
Lange was a lounge lizard, a figure known in the circles of Warsaw writers and Kraków bohemians. In 1924, he founded the literary magazine Astrea. He often wrote under pseudonyms, including S. Wrzesień, Napierski, Katullus, Don Kichot or Kwieciński. He debuted in 1886 with the poem Pogrzeb Shelley’a (Shelley's Funeral).
Lange's most outstanding poetic achievement is Rozmyślania (Reflections) from 1906, a volume in which he included reflections on the loneliness and social alienation of the individual and the necessity of death. His poetry is devoid of the exaggeration, lamentation and hysteria that were popular during this period.
Lange was a researcher of Polish Romanticism and an outstanding expert in French literature. He sought inspiration in Eastern culture and religion, as well as in occultism and parapsychology (he participated in spiritualistic séances). He willingly experimented with the written word and poetic forms and was famous for his extraordinary rhyming skills. He is said to be a representative of decadence and Parnassianism, but his poetry combines all the elements of modernism: symbolism, impressionism, pessimistic metaphysics, intuitionism, as well as a return to romanticism with the conviction of the need to revive the nation.
Lange was also an outstanding prose writer and one of the first fantasy writers. He gained recognition in 1912 with a collection of fantasy and scientific short stories titled W Trzecim Wymiarze (In the Third Dimension) and the occult novel Miranda, published in 1924.
He was an extremely prolific writer, practising almost all literary genres. He knew many European languages, as well as several eastern languages. He translated Baudelaire, Maeterlinck, Poe, Byron and Maupassant, amongst others.
Poetry:
Pogrobowcom, National Printing House, Kraków 1901.
Pocałunki [Kisses], self-published, Warsaw 1925.
Selected Poems, introduction by J.Z. Jakubowski, Warsaw 1960.
Rozmyślania i Inne Wiersze [Reflections and Other Poems], selection and introduction: Jerzy Poradecki, Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, Warsaw 1979, Bibliotek Poetów series
Selected Poems, selection and editing: Paweł Bukowiec, Universitas, Kraków 2003, Klasyka Mniej Znana series
Rozmyślania: Poezja Antoniego Lange [Reflections: The Poetry of Antoni Lange], photographs by Monika Lange, Monika Lange-Grace, Warsaw 2006.
Author: Joanna Szulczewska, December 2007. Written for the internet project ‘Anthology of Polish Poetry from the Middle Ages to the 21st Century’ according to Piotr Matywiecki's concept, translated into English by P. Grabowski, December 2020