Adam Mickiewicz was born on December 24, 1798, at the estate of his uncle in Zaosie near Navahrudak of the Russian Empire. His father, Mikolaj Mickiewicz, belonged to the szlachta which was a Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth nobility, but they were an impoverished noble family. His father was an attorney in Nowogródek, and his mother, Barbara (née Majewska) was the daughter of a steward from Czombrów and reputed to have been a descendant of a Frankist family. The Frankists were members of a Jewish religious sect. In 1807 he began his education in the district school in Nowogródek, which was run by the Dominicans. His first poetic attempts came during this period. On 16 May 1812 his father died when Adam was thirteen, which brought about a deterioration in the family’s material conditions. In June of 1812, Napoleon's army marched into Lithuania bound for Moscow.

In 1815 Mickiewicz enrolled at the University of Vilnius on a government scholarship. He studied at the Physics and Mathematics Faculties and also attended lectures at the Faculties of Moral and Political Studies and Literature and Liberal Arts. He also applied for admission to the Teachers’ Seminary. He got involved with a secret Polish-Lithuanian freedom organization while at the university. He was one of the founders of the secret society, Towarzystwo Filomatów (Philomats’ Society) in 1817. Its aim was self-educational and scientific work, but also the patriotic upbringing and education of university youth. In 1818, Mickiewicz’s published his first 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 and the theory of poetry. After graduation he had to work off the scholarship by teaching and was sent to a district school in Kowno where he taught from 1819 to 1823. In 1822 the first volume of Poezyje (including Ballady i romanse), was published in Vilnius.

In July 1823, an investigation into secret youth unions in Lithuania began. On the night November 5, 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 work as a teacher in "provinces remote from Poland". After a six-month prison term, he was exiled to Russia in the autumn of 1824. By that time he had already published two small volumes of miscellaneous poetry at Vilnius, which had been favorably received by the Slavic public, and on his arrival at St. Petersburg, he was welcomed into the leading literary circles. Mickiewicz never saw his home again. He lived in Odessa, Moscow, and St. Petersburg.

In Odessa, Mickiewicz had a short affair with Karolina Sobanska, the daughter of Count Adam Rzewuski; she was a talented musician and also a Russian intelligence agent. Much of his work was written in exile in Russia. In 1825 he visited the Crimea, which inspired a collection of poems called "The Crimean Sonnets". He also wrote "Grazyna", "Konrad Wallenrod" and "Pan Tadeusz" during this period. After a five year exile in Russia the poet obtained permission to travel. He went to Germany, then entered Italy. In 1832 Mickiewicz left Rome for Paris, where his life was for some time spent in poverty and unhappiness. He married a Polish lady, Celina Szymanowska (her parents came from Jewish Frankist families), but did not have any regular income. He worsened his financial situation, which was already bad when his six children were born between 1835 and 1850. His wife suffered a nervous breakdown and went insane. Mickiewicz exhibited all the signs of premature old age as he bore the burdens of poverty and despair.

In 1840 he was appointed to the newly founded chair of Slavic languages and literature in the College de France. In 1841, he fell under the influence of a strange mystical philosopher named Andrzej Towianski. He became a leader of the Divine Matter Circle, which was founded by Towianski. His lectures became a medley of religion, politics and the propaganda of Towianski’s ideas which brought him under the censure of thegovernment. He was suspended as a professor by the authorities in May 1844.

Mickiewicz attempted unsuccessfully to enlist Polish regiments to help Garibaldi in the Italian struggle against Austria. At the outbreak of the Crimean War, he went to Turkey to raise Polish armies to fight against Russia. During a visit to a military camp near Constantinople he caught cholera and died suddenly on November 26, in 1885. His body was first transported to Paris and he was buried at Montmorency. In 1890, Mickiewicz's remains were returned to Poland and buried with the Polish kings in the national shrine in Crakow.

The goal of Mickiewicz's writings was to search for ways to restore national independence. His lectures and journalistic writings inspired Poles to hope and political activity. He served as a role model to the cause of Poland's independence. He was the spiritual leader of the Polish nation. He animated the Polish national spirit through his poetic, dramatic and political writings, providing hope and spiritual sustenance to Poles under the Russian, Prussian and Austrian rule. Mickiewicz's patriotism and nationalism were intertwined with his mysticism and spirituality. Under the influence Andrzej Towianski, he developed a concept of Israel as a fellow sufferer of Poland and of Poland as a Christ of nations. Mickiewicz believed that in the middle of the 19th century the Kingdom of God would prevail and the chosen nations of the epoch would be the Poles, the French and the Jews. Above all, he believed in an independent Poland. His spirit was filled with supreme patriotism and his energy was spent striving toward a means of freeing his country from foreign oppression.

Many biographical facts, particularly those pertaining to his relationships with women, were deliberately obscured to preserve the public image of the poet. His interest in mysticism and involvement in mystical cults was minimized by Mickiewicz's son, Wladyslaw. His son also gained control of his father's papers after the poet's death and destroyed various documents which might have potentially tarnished his father's image.