The focus of this article is mainly on Ronsard and Joachim du Bellay, whose poetry features the themes of sleep or dream in many ways, aspects and levels.Among Ronsard’s odes we can find a lyric prayer to a personifi ed and divinized Sleep (Voeu au Somme); the poem is marked by a strong desire for oblivion or even for death as eternal sleep, considered as liberation from the troubles and anxieties of the daily life, as a remedy for extreme torments.
Dream visions are also structural elements of du Bellay’s cycles of love poetry, e.g. the Somnium (in the case of Latin elegies) or Sonnet V of L’Olive (in the case of French sonnets). On the other hand, the Songe, linked to the Antiquités de Rome, represents a series of pessimist and catastrophic visions inspired by Ecclesiastes and the Book of Revelation.
As for reveries, they are often comparable to a mental voyage, a kind of a quest, related to the Platonic ladder of love with three main steps: love of a beautiful body, love of a beautiful soul and love of beauty itself, i.e. the eternal and absolute beauty. Among the Platonic infl uences we can also classify the androgyny myth and the idea of metempsychosis, noticeable in Ronsard’s poetry (Élégie XV), presenting a very pessimistic vision of the human nature.Th e Hymne de la Surdité of du Bellay, in which the poet transforms his own disability into an ideal reality, is probably rooted in a similar vision.

The medieval Song about Saint Job has survived until the present day in the handwritten record from the 16th century and in printed versions: Pieśni postne starożytne (c. 1607) and Pieśni katolickie nowo reformowane (1st edition published in 1638). Thanks to a reference in Peregrynacja dziadowska (1614) it is known that the composition prevailed in the repertoire of traveling singers and became an element of the folk culture, where it has remained till today. In a slightly diff erent form, it is still performed during a country ceremony which precedes a burial. The contemporary version of the Song about Saint Job is longer from the Old Polish texts and despite certain diff erences, there are also numerous similarities (e.g. present within particular stanzas or the construction of the plot, which refers mostly to the prologue and the epilogue of the Book of Job), which indicate an affi nity with the unknown Old Polish version, which was preserved only in its Lithuanian translation published by Martynas Mažvydas in Giesmės krikščioniškos (1563).
Th is article attempts to compare and contrast the new and old versions of the text in an eff ort to locate its both convergent and dissimilar fragments in various traditions which infl uenced the two preserved compositions: the Eastern version (apocryphal and Islamic) and the Western version (Christian tradition of the Church Fathers and the medieval reading of the ancient Roman literature). It also aims to interpret some vague fragments of old texts through a juxtaposition with the medieval English Th e Life of Job and with iconographic material.

Th e article is devoted to the specifi c relationship between history and narrative in the most important 17th century Polish diary – Pamiętniki by Jan Chryzostom Pasek. Th e author’s writing strategy resembled the episodic construction of epic literature. Particular plots create separate entities, therefore the narrative consists of sequences of literary scenes. Several methods allow to distinguish these self-contained wholes. Th is may be achieved e.g. by means of a topographical criterion. A very interesting example of this method is an episode from Pasek’s „military mission” to Siedlce (a small town in South-Eastern Poland). Th is small part of Pamiętniki presents the best elements of Pasek’s creative skills: his attractive method of storytelling, sense of humor, witty remarks. Th e most important thing for the writer is the creation of himself, frequently against the historical truth. Th erefore, Pasek’s narrative changes the facts and dominates the history. A contemporary reader is obliged by Pasek to „read between the lines” and to use his historical knowledge in the process of understanding and interpretation.

The present article describes the methods of creating the ‘lyric self ’ and contains interpretations of three poems: Pieśń XXIV ksiąg wtórych and Muza by Jan Kochanowski as well as Pszczoła w bursztynie by Jan Andrzej Morsztyn. The article is composed of three parts. The first part is devoted to exploring the ‘metaphor of a swan’. The second part deals with the interpretation of the ‘metaphor of a cricket’. The final part is focused on the ‘metaphor of a bee’. These three kinds of metaphors are connected with the methods of creating the ‘lyric self ’ in the abovementioned poems. The author wants to present himself as a poet, hence he writes about his talent and skills. To create himself in the poem, the author uses a specific kind of metaphor. Therefore we can talk about the ‘poet-swan’, the ‘poet-cricket’ and the ‘poet-bee’. One of the most important methodological contexts used in the article is the phenomenon of depersonalization, as these three metaphors deal with the construction of the ‘self in the text’, and not of the author himself. Moreover, in that situation, it is the reader who becomes the producer of the meaning of the text.

The article aims at elucidating relationships between De vanitate mundi, a long poem by a Jesuit poet Jakob Balde (1604–1668), and its two Old-Polish translations from the seventeenth century. Their authors were Zygmunt Brudecki (1610–1647), also a Jesuit, and king’s secretary Jan Libicki (late sixteenth century–1670).
The article is divided into five chapters. The German poet and both translators are briefly introduced in the fi rst chapter. Afterwards, the edition of De vanitate mundi which served as the base for the Polish translators is identifi ed. The chronology of the two translations and their interdependence are also described. The four following chapters analyse the translations in detail, revealing the similarities between the two versions and features characteristic for each translator. Finally, the differences between Latin and Polish, with which Brudecki and Libicki had to cope in their work, are highlighted. Th e article attempts at demonstrating the complexity of relationships between the three texts and sheds light on Balde’s reception in Poland. More generally, the analysed case illustrates how the Jesuit literature spread in Europe.

In the present article I have attempted to investigate the sources of inspiration for Boccaccio’s Nastagio degli Onesti, with its peculiar motif of an infernal hunt. It is precisely this motif that links the story with the ancient myth of Acthaeon, a theme much-loved in art and literature since the Metamorphoses of Ovid.
It appears that this myth was the source of a mediaeval legend about an infernal hunt, which had been told by Helinandus Frigidi Montis and later translated into Italian by Jacopo Passavanti. As scholars have pointed out, this translation was in all probability Boccaccio’s primary source of inspiration. In my analysis, I have shown that – on the one hand – Boccaccio associated the motif of an infernal hunt in that story with Ovid’s version of the myth of Acthaeon and – on the other hand – he connected the motif of winning a lady’s heart by means of a terrible exemplum with the myth of Vortumnus and Pomona, which he also knew from the Metamorphoses. Moreover, it seems
almost certain that the characteristic ring composition of Boccaccio’s novel was derived directly from this very story.
Nastagio degli Onesti is therefore a highly intertextual novel in which Boccaccio merged three separate sources: two distinct myths told by Ovid in the Metamorphoses and Helinandus-Passavanti’s version of a mediaeval legend, which was probably a direct continuation of one of  them.

The essay discusses the process of formulating negative opinions on women’s clothing by baroque moralist writers (mainly priests and preachers), such as Bazyli Rychlewicz, Antoni Węgrzynowicz and Piotr Kwiatkowski. These authors eagerly expressed their views on fashion by means of an exemplum, a genre attractive from a didactical point of view.
According to religious criteria, decking oneself out was perceived as belonging to the realm of sin. Writers connected with the Church regarded sumptuous dresses as the eff ect (and also the cause) of such deadly sins as pride, envy or lust. The authors of exempla sought for artistic ideas, and above all, moral guidelines, in the Bible. The analyzed texts are characterized by a farreaching severity towards various fashion phenomena. In the eyes of baroque moralists, the ‘sin of fashion’ deserved punishment: suff ering and illnesses in the earthly life and eternal damnation after death.

„Głośny rezon...” – An edition. Carols from the monastery of enclosed Carmelite Nuns in Cracow presents a summary of the research regarding Carmelite Christmas canticles. „Głośny rezon...” is a collection of 18th century carols, written down by enclosed Carmelite Nuns from the Cracow monastery (Wesoła quarter). Two duplicates of the main manuscript have survived: one for the male and one for the female part of the gathering. Both of them contain 163 carols related to the birth of the Lord. The author’s main goal is to faithfully edit the original manuscripts. Since the original „Głośny rezon...” did not include music notations, they would not be attached to the present edition either. The complete edition should consist of: a transcription of the 18th century Carmelite carols, a commentary with a glossary as well as a critical apparatus including diff erent variants of the texts which can be found in other Carmelite collections of canticles from the same period. The edition should be preceded by an account of the traditions of composing carols and caroling itself, and a description of the contents of the library where „Głośny rezon...” was found. Moreover, the edited copies should be described in every detail. The planned edition will provide careful account of the diff erences, subjects and the time of origin of the carols. The article reports which tasks have  already been completed and what is left for future research

In the fi rst part of the paper, the author copes with the problem of Plato’s influence on the Hans-Georg Gadamer’s project of philosophical hermeneutics. It appears that Plato was both an obstacle and an inspiration for the German philosopher. The former is to be observed in his interpretation of Plato’s Cratylus.
Gadamer takes pains to avoid its conclusion that one can study the reality without the mediation of language. But, on the other hand, Plato’s Cratylus seems to contradict his own practice of thinking through language – says Gadamer. Clearly, one may discern it easily in his choice of dialogue as a means to express his ideas, and in emphasizing the priority of questions while struggling to overcome the sophistic answering culture. This practice was an endless and obvious inspiration for Gadamer’s hermeneutics. In the second section, the author shares his conviction that Gadamer rightly approached the problems of the modern culture by translating the achievements of Plato’s dialogic practice into our reality. The dialogue is seen as paradigmatic for every human experience, because it is exemplary for any act of understanding. Gadamer shows how to fi nd a way through the  current skepticism and pluralism. The truth, though it may be elusive, is yet to be pursued dia logon. We cannot forget about the need to ask questions because only thus we can stay open to  understanding. Our task is to continue the dialogue with tradition and we ought not to limit ourselves to the narrow scientifi c rationality or else we will cease to understand others, even in ourselves.