The text is devoted to material objects as they appear in selected works of two notable authors of Polish Romanticism – Adam Mickiewicz and Joachim Lelewel. Inspired by post-humanist thought, the article reviews the ambiguous currents where Romanticism intersects with modern age and ‘the century of lights’. On the one hand, both authors express their fascination with experimental thinking of the Enlightenment and the continuity of anthropocentrism. On the other, however, they notice the burden of emancipation of man, which results in his alienation from non-human realm, both contemporary and material.danzaw123@gmail.comDanuta Zawadzka, dr hab., adiunkt w Instytucie Filologii Polskiej Uniwersytetu w Białymstoku (Zakład Literatury Oświecenia ...