This article deals with the evolution of Polish philological reflection in the context of the development of German philology and literary research. Polish literary research in the 19th century developed on the basis of two main models. The first derived from the dispute that Romantic authors had with university philologists. The second used the methodology of historical-philological research. In this article, I try to prove that the debate between these different scientific approaches played a key role in the formation of Polish historical literary research in the 19th century.