Polish literature is the literary tradition of
Poland. Most Polish literature has been written in the
Polish language, though other languages used in Poland over the centuries have also contributed to Polish literary traditions, including
Latin,
Yiddish,
Lithuanian,
Ukrainian,
Belarusian,
German and
Esperanto. According to
Czeslaw Milosz, for centuries Polish literature focused more on drama and poetic self-expression than on fiction (dominant in the English speaking world). The reasons were manifold, but mostly rested on historical circumstances of the nation. Polish writers typically have had a more profound range of choices to motivate them to write, including historical cataclysms of extraordinary violence that swept Poland (as the crossroads of Europe); but also, Poland's own collective incongruities demanding adequate reaction from the writing communities of any given period.