Scales of a Marvellous Balancing: Jan Kochanowski’s Threnody XVII

The paper proposes at the new, detailed reading of Jan Kochanowski’s Threnody XVII. While it does not aim to thoroughly challenge the previous interpretations of the text, it focuses on the significant elements, which have been largely omitted in the existing studies. Despite the fact that researchers usually pointed the presence of Job motives in the poem, they were not analyzed in a systematic way as a concise set of textual allusions, hidden in the whole cycle of lamentations. The close reading of the poem reveals the central position of the image of weighting the reason on the scales, its source being the 6th chapter of The Book of Job.

In these following analyses, the image is interpreted as the fulcrum of the chiastic composition of Threnody XVII. Finally, the paper puts forth a working hypothesis that the identified set of Job motives associated with the chiastic composition could be related to the Hebrew concentric structure (inclusio), as examined by Roland Meynet. Arguably, the further, extensive research is needed to confirm such a tempting, yet still highly insecure assumption.

Orlando furioso by Ludovico Ariosto as a Poem on Women. Angelica, Marfisa, Bradamante and their heroic epic representation

The article concerns Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso, and its interpretation according to which it may be read as a poem about women who break the traditional male monopoly on heroism in the epic literature. The author aims to prove Ariosto’s innovative approach by analyzing Orlando Furioso’s protagonists. Hence the paper is mainly dedicated to three of Ariosto’s characters – Angelica, Marfisa and Bradamante. Those women are presented in a comparative perspective against their traditional prototypes with particular reference to those moments in the poem that render visible Ariosto’s novelty in creating his protagonists. Angelica, Marfisa and Bradamante, especially in contrast with the poem’s male cavalieri seem to be more in line with the canonical representations of heroism.

In the first part of the study, the author presents Ariosto’s Angelica, often interpreted as a mere capricious object of man’s desire. Nevertheless, the character appears as self-aware and confident, striving to make her own decision when it comes to choosing the partner for life. The second part of the article is dedicated to Ariosto’s most canonical virago – Marfisa. Undefeated in the battlefield till the end of the poem, she often breaks her stereotypical comical image and consciously resigns from love. The last part of the study concentrates on Bradamante, who combines both amori and armi: the Christian knight, future founder of the Este noble family despite being in constant pursuit of her lover Ruggero, not sacrificing her passion for chivalry. According to the author of the article, Bradamante should be perceived as the central character of Orlando Furioso, as she carries the main idea of Ariosto’s masterpiece.

Was being a Jan Kochanowski’s descentant a reason to be proud?

Genealogy present in works devoted to the poets’ descentants (17th-18th centuries)
Part. 1. Zuzanna Wołucka’s (nee Owadowska)’s descendants

This study explores the genealogical awareness of the Polish nobility and the role of outstanding individuals in creating collective memory. More specifically, it offers an analysis of genealogical references included in encomia devoted to Jan Kochanowski’s enatic descendants, in the context of their famous ancestor’s literary output and his fame. Coming from the line of Zuzanna Wołucka, nee Owadowska, Jan Kochanowski’s granddaughter, the descendants inherited parts of the poet’s real estate and buried their relatives next to his Zwolen mausoleum till the end of the 18th century.

The article is based on commemorative prints devoted to the poet’s descendants: Falces avitae ad lauream vernantis gloriae messem by Wojciech Zatoński (1696) written in honour of the Sieradz castellan’s wife Zofia Lipska nee Olszowska, Chwalebny zawód do kresu szczęśliwego by Krzysztof Wierzbicki (1699) in honour of the Sieradz chamberlain’s daughter Konstancja Zapolska, Niebo herbownego Księżyca by Samuel Wysocki (1732) lauding the Gostyn staroste’s daughter Zofia Lipska nee Granowska, as well as the anonymous Panegyricus probatissimo magistro belli in sago (1757) devoted to the Rawa palatine Kazimierz Granowski. None of these pieces includes any references to Jan Kochanowski, which can be explained by the social status of these newly promoted to state offices families with middle- to petty-nobility roots. The need to legitimize their position as the noble well-to-do class holding state posts required to show connections with sufficiently important ancestors who also held state offices, rather than by giving prominence to the genealogy and the past generations.

The Brazen Serpent and the Alleged Ennoblement: A Case for Tomasz Treter’s Biography

The article discusses signs of identity (burgher arms) of Tomasz Treter (Treterus, 1547–1610). Treter was a trusted secretary of Cardinal Stanisław Hozjusz (Hosius), but also a draughtsman, a painter, an engraver, a designer of monuments and prints, and a Neo-Latin poet. The texts focuses on Treter’s non-armorial seals, depicting a shield with a winged snake twisted around a cross (the Brazen Serpent) and on Treter’s two supralibros (one with the burgher arms and the other displaying an impresa). The paper also analyses emblematic compositions in Symbolica vitae Christi meditatio, a volume of meditations composed by Treter. These sources are used to undermine the belief that Treter was ennobled by Pope Gregory XIII and that he used the Boncompagni’s coat of arms (Draco).

A poetic cycle on Hyella from Andrea Navagero’s Lusus: introduction, translation, commentary

The paper presents the first Polish translation of a mini-series of six short poems about Hyella by Andrea Navagero (1483–1529). The selected works are part of Navagero’s famous Latin poetry collection entitled Lusus. The translation is supplemented by an introduction and commentary notes. The Latin text reproduced in the paper is based on the edition of Lusus by Claudio Griggio (2001).

The introduction presents the author’s biography and includes a brief description of the whole collection. Navagero was a diplomat, a poet and the official historian of the Republic of Venice. Collected by friends in Orationes duae carminaque nonnulla, his poems were edited posthumously in Venice in 1530. The most important part of Lusus are bucolic epigrams, a new form of Neo-Latin pastoral developed by Navagero. This minor lyric form called “pastoral play” (lusus pastoralis) gained recognition quickly and was widely imitated in 16th century. The collection also includes other literary genres – bucolic poems, elegies, and erotic poems. However, the most famous is the series of epigrams whose heroine or addressee is Hyella, a girl impossible to identify.

The introduction presents a discussion about the sources and the interpretation of the love poems about Hyella (poems 21, 22, 28, 31, 32 and 37). The most important literary tradition from which Navagero draws inspiration is the Greek and Latin ancient epigram. For poem 21, the source is the Anacreontea 19, while poem 22 uses the motifs of the lamp and the night as the guardians of lovers, both popular in The Greek Anthology. For two other pieces, the direct source is the poetry of Catullus: poem 31 uses Catullus’s carmen 5, while poem 32 combines motifs from Catullus’s carmina 82, 92 and 109. In addition, in poem 28 we find similarities with Ausonius’s epigram 9. Other important sources for Navagero were the poetry of Petrarch and the neo-Catullan poets, mostly Giovanni Pontano, Michele Marullo, and Cristoforo Landino.