Improvisation as a record of failure : Alphonse de Lamartine, Adam Mickiewicz

The paper deals with the question of improvisation and its place in the Romantic culture. Examples of Alphonse de Lamartine’s Méditation vingt-cinqième, l’improvisée à la Grande Chartreuse and Adam Mickiewicz’s Wielka Improwizacja are meant to show how the poetical improvisation could be connected with the notion of epiphany and inspiration, not only as a way of fulfilment, but also as a record of failure.