Modesnism, phylosophy of modernism, accursed poets, Schopenhauer, Ratoń

The aim of this contribution was to see the creation and fate of Polish decadent poet Kazimierz Raton through a prism of Arthur Schopenhauer's philosophy. The study is divided into three parts. In the introduction we presented a brief insight into the issue of decadence in literature. The impact of decadent poets' creations on modern literature and literature of other periods was also described. The following part of the work briefly introduced Schopenhauer's philosophy which viewed life as eternal suffering. In the concluding literary-philosophical analyses we focused on Schopenhauer's influence on life and creation of the poet Kazimierz Raton. Our analysis underlined not only the parallels in life attitudes of both authors (contempt for people, women) but also the analogies in their work and philosophy (life as suffering, redemption through art, denouncement of suicide).