A highly versatile personality, Bryll was also a journalist, film critic, translator and diplomat.
Culture Minister Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz described Bryll on the X platform as “a great figure in literature, poetry and journalism, former ambassador to Ireland.”
Sienkiewicz added: "His passing on the eve of St Patrick’s Day carries a symbolic meaning, leaving an enduring void in the literary world.”
Since making his debut as a poet in 1958, Bryll published almost 40 volumes of poetry. His output also included several highly successful dramas, such as Rzecz listopadowa (November Matter) and Wieczernik (The Cenacle).
The latter play, based on evangelical themes and banned under communism, was premiered in a Warsaw church in 1985, directed by future Oscar winner Andrzej Wajda.
Actress Krystyna Janda, who played Mary Magdalene in that production, told Poland's PAP news agency that there were three driving forces in Bryll's life: ”faith, Poland and the family."
Bryll also wrote lyrics to popular words-and-music performances. One of these, Kolęda Nocka, featured his poem “What is this queue waiting for?” which, in a slightly revised version by Krystyna Prońko as “The Queuer's Psalm,” became a major hit in the early 1980s.
The same was true of many other of Bryll’s poems. Set to music by prominent composers, such as Katarzyna Gärtner, Włodzimierz Korcz and Czesław Niemen, and performed by renowned Polish singers including Marek Grechuta, Stan Borys, Halina Frąckowiak and Maryla Rodowicz, they achieved enormous popularity.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Bryll, a member of the communist Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR), held several prominent positions in Polish culture, including those of the Director of Polish Television Theatre. He also managed film production units and the Polish Cultural Institute in London.
After the imposition of martial law in December 1981 to crush the Solidarity movement, Bryll withdrew from the communist party.
From 1991 to 1995, he served at the Polish ambassador to Ireland. He continued to write poetry and pursued a career as a translator of works by Irish and Czech authors.
Bryll’s distinctions included the Order of the Companion of the Royal House of O'Conor, the Commander's Cross of the Polonia Restituta Order, the Golden Gloria Artis Medal of Cultural Merit, and the Per Artem Ad Deum (Through Arts to God) Medal from the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Culture for “poetry that brings us closer to God and helps confront His absolute,"
(mk/gs)