Kochanowski

Laments

INTRODUCTORY NOTE
LAMENT I
LAMENT II
LAMENT III
LAMENT IV
LAMENT V
LAMENT VI
LAMENT VII
LAMENT VIII
LAMENT IX
LAMENT X
LAMENT XI
LAMENT XII
LAMENT XIII
LAMENT XIV
LAMENT XV
LAMENT XVI
LAMENT XVII
LAMENT XVIII
LAMENT XIX

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LAMENTS

BY

JAN KOCHANOWSKI

VERSIFIED BY

DOROTHEA PRALL

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
BERKELEY
1920

[2]

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SYLLABUS SERIES NO. 122

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INTRODUCTORY NOTE

Jan Kochanowski (1530-84) was the greatest poet of Polandduring its existence as an independent kingdom. His Laments arehis masterpiece, the choicest work of Polish lyric poetry before thetime of Mickiewicz.

Kochanowski was a learned poet of the Renaissance, drawing hisinspiration from the literatures of Greece and Rome. He was alsoa man of sincere piety, famous for his translation of the Psalmsinto his native language. In his Laments, written in memory ofhis little daughter Ursula, who died in 1579 at the age of thirtymonths, he expresses the deepest personal emotion through themedium of a literary style that had been developed by long yearsof study. The Laments, to be sure, are not based on any classicmodel and they contain few direct imitations of the classical poets,though it may be noted that the concluding couplet of Lament XVis translated from the Greek Anthology. On the other hand they areinterspersed with continual references to classic story; and, moreimportant, are filled with the atmosphere of the Stoic philosophy,derived from Cicero and Seneca. And along with this austereteaching there runs through them a warmer tone of Christian hopeand trust; Lament XVIII is in spirit a psalm. To us of today,however, these poems appeal less by their formal perfection, bytheir learning, or by their religious tone, than by their exquisitehumanity. Kochanowski's sincerity of grief, his fatherly lovefor his baby girl, after more than three centuries have not lost theirpower to touch our hearts. In the Laments Kochanowski embodieda wholesome ideal of life such as animated the finest spirits ofPoland in the years of its greatest glory, a spirit both humanisticand universally human.

G. R. NOYES.

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