Adam Mickiewicz born on 24 December 1798 in Zaosie near Nowogródek. He was baptised on 12 February 1799 and given the names Adam Bernard. He came from a family of low nobility. His father, Mikołaj, was an attorney in Nowogródek, and his mother, Barbara Majewska was the daughter of a steward from Czombrów. In 1807 he commenced his education in the district school in Nowogródek, which was run by the Dominicans. His first poetic attempts came from this period. On 16 May 1812 the poet’s father died. In the summer of the same year Napoleon’s troops, heading for Moscow, marched into Lithuania. Nowogródek hosted Hieronim, the Westphalian king. The citizens celebrated the emperor’s birthday with due ceremony. A few months later Mickiewicz observed the retreat of the remnants of the Grand Army. A field hospital was organised in the Dominican school which he used to attend.
In 1815 he left for Wilno where he entered the university which at that time was an important centre of Enlightenment culture in Lithuania. He studied at the Physics and Mathematics Faculty. He also attended lectures at the Faculties of Moral and Political Studies and Literature and Liberal Arts. He simultaneously applied for admission to the Teachers’ Seminary which was also at the university. Because of his material situation he also applied for a state scholarship which was awarded to candidates preparing for the profession of teacher. After graduation he would have to work off the scholarship by teaching in a school appointed by the university. He was one of the founders of the secret society, Towarzystwo Filomatów (Philomats’ Society) (1817). Its aim was self-educational and scientific work, but also the patriotic upbringing and education of university youth. "Tygodnik Wileński" (1818, VI, pp. 254-256) published Mickiewicz’s first printed poem: Zima Miejska. In 1819 he graduated from university with an MA degree. He received a good humanistic education in the fields of classical philology, history, the theory of poetry and pronunciation. He was sent to a district school in Kowno (1819-1823). In 1822 the first volume of Poezyje (including Ballady i romanse), which was dedicated to his friends, was published in Wilno. The novelty of this collection meant that the year 1822 is considered as the breakthrough of Romanticism in Poland. One year later Mickiewicz published his second volume of Poezyje. It included Grażyna and Dziady II and IV (Parts II and IV of "Forefathers’ Eve").
In July 1823 in Vilnius an investigation into secret youth unions in Lithuania was commenced. On the night of 4/5 November 1823 Mickiewicz was arrested. He was imprisoned in a Basilian monastery until 1824. He was sentenced for "the spread of unreasonable Polish nationalism through teaching" to working as a teacher in "provinces remote from Poland" and left Poland in the autumn of 1824.
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