Jan Kochanowski

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importance here. Odprawa posłów greckich depicts neither Troy
nor the Poland of the sixteenth century. A general reflection
dominates here, which is especially explicit in the chorus s songs
Jan Kochanowski
Treny 59
(reflection on wisdom, youth, duties and moral responsibilities of
the rulers), in the dialogue between Antenor and Paris, Ulysses
monologue (on the lawless kingdom) and in Helen s conversation
with the Old Lady. Through sayings and proverbs, it reveals
universal ideas, the truth about the superiority of the common
good and dependence of the country and of its future on its
citizens stance. The play fits into the model of ancient tragedy.
The author preserved the division into epeisodia, used songs of
the chorus (left out the parodos, the song of the chorus entering
the stage, and the exodos, the song of the choir leaving the stage),
preserved the unities of time (one day), place (in front of the
royal palace) and plot (single-threaded, centred around Helen).
He remembered to have only two people talking on stage at the
same time, although he abandons the idea in the last epeisodion.
Odprawa is most closely connected with the tragedies of
Euripides. Following his example, the poet introduced
stichomythia (a polemic dialogue composed of concise rejoinders,
often in the form of sententious sayings or proverbs, e.g. the
conversation between Antenor and Paris), restricted the function
of the chorus to making reflections and comments only, never
created a collective scene but introduced a monologue of the
Envoy, who functions in the text not only as a commentator but
also as a performer of various parts (Priam, Antenor, Alexander-
Paris, Iketaon), which makes the scene dramatic although it
technically is a statement of one speaker. In accordance with the
rules of tragedy since the ancient times, the play should end with
a catastrophe, an event bringing about the hero s fall and defeat.
The plot takes place shortly before the war, when a real
catastrophe cannot happen. The poet introduced its substitute: the
monologues of Ulysses and Menelaus, but most of all Cassandra s,
with her vision of the fall of Troy. The power of that vision was
further strengthened by delivering, in the cavalry captain s words,
the news about the Greeks starting the war.
Jan Kochanowski
Treny 60
Odprawa posłów greckich was Poland s first really poetic and
deeply reflective drama, the first and for a hundred years the only
one.
As a lyric poet, Kochanowski left behind him Pieśni, ("Hymns"),
Fraszki ("Epigrams"), Psałterz Dawidów, ("David s Psalter") and
Treny ("Threnodies").
Pieśni ("Hymns"), or to be more precise two collections: Pieśni
Jana Kochanowskiego ("Jan Kochanowski s Hymns"), Księgi dwoje
("Two Books") (49 poems), published posthumously in 1585/86,
and Pieśni kilka ("Several Hymns") (11 poems), published in 1590
in a collection Fragmenta albo Pozostałe pisma, ("Fragments or
Other writings") through their titles referred to Horace s Songs
(Carmina).
Pieśni were created over many years, both during the period spent
in the royal court and in Czarnolas. Varied thematically and
artistically, they belong to reflective, philosophical, ethical, love
(II, 21), moral (I, 10), jovial, civic, patriotic (II, 5; II, 14), auto-
thematic (II, 24; containing the apotheosis of poetry) kinds of
poetry. Some of them are of a satirical and didactic character, full
of remarks and invectives aimed at negative manifestations of
social life.
The philosophy of life contained in both collections grows out of
Stoic and Epicurean philosophy, the Horatian idea of "the golden
mean" ("aurea mediocritas"), Christian thought, the rationalism
and anthropocentrism of the Renaissance. The harmonious blend
of the elements of ancient tradition and of contemporary western
European models with the native reality of Kochanowski s times,
objectivism with subjective personal experience, enriched Pieśni
Jan Kochanowski
Treny 61
in universal and timeless values. Pieśni introduced to Polish
poetry forms of confession and mythological story, persuasive and
oratory monologue, comment with a receiver present, subtle
poetic language, sententious style full of apostrophes. They were
often imitated in the sixteenth century and the years to come.
A series titled Pieśń świętojańska o Sobótce ("A Midsummer
Hymn about Sobótka") was added to the 1585/86 edition of
Pieśni. Consisting of stories told by twelve maidens, it referred to
folklore; Slavic and Polish traditions of Midsummer Night
celebrations. At the same time it made use of the pastoral motifs
of the poetry of Ovid, Virgil and Horace, joining native tradition
with ancient tradition. The maidens in their stories, stylised as
"simple songs", expressed various feelings, emotions of happiness
and melancholy, praised love, song and dance, developed the
motifs taken out of folklore and myths.
At the same time as Pieśni, Kochanowski was writing Fraszki, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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