Jan Kochanowski facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jan Kochanowski
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Jan Kochanowski
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| Born | 1530 Sycyna, Kingdom of Poland
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| Died | 22 August 1584 (age 54 or 55) |
| Resting place | Zwoleń |
| Other names | Jan z Czarnolasu |
| Alma mater | University of Padua |
| Occupation | courtier, poet |
| Years active | 1550-1584 |
| Known for | major influence on Polish poetry; first major Polish poet |
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Notable work
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Treny, Fraszki, Odprawa posłów greckich |
| Spouse(s) | Dorota, née Podlodowska |
| Children | 7 |
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Jan Kochanowski (born 1530 – died 22 August 1584) was a famous Polish Renaissance poet. He wrote in Neo-Latin (a modern form of Latin) and Polish. He created new ways of writing poetry that became very important for the Polish language.
Many people call him the greatest Polish poet before Adam Mickiewicz. Mickiewicz was a leading writer during the Romantic period. Kochanowski is also seen as one of the most important Slavic poets before the 1800s.
When he was young, Kochanowski traveled to Italy and France. He studied at the University of Padua in Italy. In 1559, he came back to Poland. There, he met important political and religious leaders. These included Jan Tarnowski and Piotr Myszkowski. He even worked for Myszkowski for a short time. He also met members of the powerful Radziwiłł family.
Around 1563, Kochanowski became a secretary to King Sigismund II Augustus. He joined the King at important events. One such event was the Sejm of 1569 in Lublin. This meeting created the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1564, he became a provost (a church official) at Poznań Cathedral. By the mid-1570s, he mostly lived on his family estate in Czarnolas. He died there in 1584, probably from a heart attack.
Kochanowski wrote many works throughout his life. Some of his most famous works are very important to Polish literature. These include:
- Treny (Laments), published in 1580. This is a series of nineteen sad poems about the death of his young daughter, Urszula.
- Odprawa posłów greckich (The Dismissal of the Greek Envoys), a play from 1578. It is a tragedy inspired by the ancient Greek poet Homer.
- Fraszki (Epigrams), a collection of 294 short poems. He wrote these between the 1560s and 1570s. They were published in three books in 1584.
One of his biggest achievements was making Polish-language verse forms popular. He also helped create guidelines for how Polish poetry should be written.
Contents
Life of Jan Kochanowski
Early Years and Education (1530–1550s)
We don't know many details about Jan Kochanowski's early life. Most of what we know comes from his own writings. He was born in 1530 in Sycyna, near Radom. This was in the Kingdom of Poland. His family was Polish szlachta, which means they were nobles. They belonged to the Korwin coat of arms family.
His father, Piotr Kochanowski, was a judge. His mother, Anna Białaczowska, was from the Odrowąż family. Jan had eleven brothers and sisters. He was the second son. His younger brothers, Andrzej Kochanowski and Mikołaj Kochanowski, also became poets.
We know little about his first schools. When he was fourteen, in 1544, he went to the Kraków Academy. Later, around 1551-1552, he studied at the University of Königsberg. This university was in Ducal Prussia, which was a fiefdom (land controlled by a lord) of Poland.
From 1552 to the late 1550s, he studied at Padua University in Italy. At Padua, Kochanowski studied classical philology. This means he studied ancient languages and literature. He also met the humanist scholar Francesco Robortello. During his time in Padua, he traveled between Italy and Poland at least twice. He returned to Poland to get money and attend his mother's funeral.
Kochanowski finished his fifteen years of studies and travels with a trip to France. He visited Marseilles and Paris. There, he met the famous poet Pierre de Ronsard. Some people think he traveled with Karl von Utenhove, a future scholar and poet from Flanders.
Career at the Royal Court (1559–1570s)
In 1559, Kochanowski moved back to Poland for good. He became an active humanist and a Renaissance poet. For the next fifteen years, he worked as a courtier (someone who serves at a royal court). We don't know much about his first few years back in Poland. The time from 1559 to 1562 is not well documented.
It is believed that he became closer to the court of Jan Tarnowski. Tarnowski was the voivode (a regional governor) of Kraków. He also connected with the Radziwiłł family. In mid-1563, Jan started working for the Vice Chancellor of the Crown. This was Bishop Piotr Myszkowski. Thanks to Myszkowski, Kochanowski received the title of royal secretary. We don't have many details about his exact duties at the royal court.
On February 7, 1564, Kochanowski was given the provostship in the Poznań cathedral. Myszkowski had given up this position. Around 1562–1563, he also worked for Bishop Filip Padniewski and Voivode Jan Firlej. From late 1563 or early 1564, he was connected to the royal court of King Sigismund II Augustus. He worked as a royal secretary. During this time, he received two benefices. These were incomes from church parishes.
In 1567, he went with the King during a part of the Livonian War. This was a show of force near Radashkovichy. In 1569, he was at the Sejm (parliament) in Lublin. This meeting created the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Later Life in Czarnolas (1571–1584)
From 1571, Kochanowski started spending more time at his family estate. This estate was in the village of Czarnolas, near Lublin. In 1574, Poland's recently elected King Henry of Valois left the country. Kochanowski had supported Henry's election. After Henry left, Kochanowski settled permanently in Czarnolas. He lived there as a country squire (a wealthy landowner).
In 1575, he married Dorota Podlodowska. She was the daughter of a Sejm deputy. They had seven children together. While in Czarnolas, his daughter Ursula died. This deeply affected him. Because of this sadness, he wrote one of his most famous works, Treny (the Laments).
In 1576, Kochanowski was a royal envoy to the sejmik (a local assembly) in Opatów. People close to him, like the Polish statesman Jan Zamoyski, encouraged him to join politics. However, he decided not to take an active part in the royal court's political life. Still, Kochanowski remained active in his local community. He often visited Sandomierz, the capital of his region. On October 9, 1579, King Stefan Batory named Kochanowski the standard-bearer of Sandomierz.
Kochanowski died in Lublin on August 22, 1584. He was 54 years old and likely died of a heart attack. He was buried in the crypt of a church in Zwoleń. Records show that at least two tombstones were made for him. One was in Zwoleń and another in Policzno, but neither still exists. In 1830, his remains were moved to his family crypt by the Zwoleń church. In 1983, they were returned to the church. In 1984, another funeral was held for the poet.
In 1791, a skull believed to be Kochanowski's was taken from his tomb. It was kept by Tadeusz Czacki. Later, it was given to Izabela Czartoryska. By 1874, it was moved to the Czartoryski Museum. However, studies in 2010 showed it was the skull of a woman. It might have been his wife's skull.
Works of Jan Kochanowski
Kochanowski's earliest known work might be the Polish poem Pieśń o potopie (Song of the Deluge). He might have written it as early as 1550. His first published work was in 1558. It was a Latin poem called Epitaphium Cretcovii. This was an epitaph (a poem for a dead person) for his friend Erazm Kretkowski. Kochanowski's works from his youth in Padua were mostly elegies (sad poems), epigrams (short, witty poems), and odes (lyric poems).
When he returned to Poland in 1559, his works often became epic poetry. These included poems honoring people, like O śmierci Jana Tarnowskiego (1561). He also wrote more serious poems like Zuzanna (1562). Proporzec albo hołd pruski (The Banner, or the Prussian Homage, 1564) was another. He also wrote satirical poems that commented on society and politics. These included Zgoda (Accord, around 1562) and Satyr albo Dziki Mąż (The Satyr, or the Wild Man, 1564).
He also wrote light-hearted poems like Szachy (Chess, around 1562-1566). This poem about a chess game is called the first Polish "humorous epic poem."
Some of his works were like early journalism. They shared views from the royal court in the 1560s and 1570s. They were meant for members of parliament (the Sejm) and voters. During this time, he also wrote most of his Fraszki (Epigrams). These were published in 1584 as a collection of 294 short poems. They were similar to Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron. The Fraszki became his most popular writings. They inspired many other writers in Poland. Czesław Miłosz, a Polish poet who won the Nobel Prize in Literature, called them a "very personal diary."
Another work from this time was a non-poetic dialogue called Wróżki. This was a political commentary.
A major work from that period was Odprawa posłów greckich (The Dismissal of the Greek Envoys). He wrote it around 1565-1566. It was first published and performed in 1578. This was a blank verse (poetry without rhyme) tragedy. It told a story from Homer that led to the Trojan War. It was the first tragedy written in Polish. Its theme about the duties of leaders is still important today. The play was performed on January 12, 1578, in Warsaw. It was for the wedding of Jan Zamoyski and Krystyna Radziwiłł. Zamoyski and the Radziwiłł family were important supporters of Kochanowski. Miłosz called The Dismissal of the Greek Envoys "the finest example of Polish humanist drama."
During the 1560s and 1570s, Kochanowski wrote a series of sad poems called Treny. They were published in three books in 1584. These nineteen elegies express deep sorrow. They mourn the loss of his beloved two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Urszula. The Laments became very popular and started a new type of writing in Polish literature. Miłosz wrote that Kochanowski's poetry was at its best in the Laments. Kochanowski's new idea was to write a whole series of poems about one personal sorrow. Some people at the time were shocked. This was because he used a classic style for a personal sadness about a young child.
In 1579, Kochanowski translated one of the Psalms into Polish. This was Psalterz Dawidów (David's Psalter). By the mid-1700s, at least 25 editions had been published. It was set to music and became a lasting part of Polish church masses and popular culture. It also became one of his most influential works internationally. It was translated into Russian, Romanian, German, Lithuanian, Czech, and Slovak.
His Pieśni (Songs), written throughout his life, were published after he died in 1586. They show influences from Italian poetry and his love for ancient times. They were especially influenced by Horace. These songs have been very important for Polish poetry.
Kochanowski also translated several ancient Greek and Roman works into Polish. These included parts of Homer's Illiad. His notable Latin works include Lyricorum libellus (Little Book of Lyrics, 1580). Also, Elegiarum libri quatuor (Four Books of Elegies, 1584). He also wrote many other poems for special occasions. His Latin poems were translated into Polish in the 1800s.
In some of his works, Kochanowski used Polish alexandrines. In this style, each line has thirteen syllables. There is a pause (a caesura) after the seventh syllable. Among works published after his death, there was a historical writing called O Czechu i Lechu historyja naganiona. This was the first time someone critically analyzed Slavic myths. It focused on the myth about Lech, Czech, and Rus.
Influence of Jan Kochanowski
Kochanowski is often called the greatest Polish poet before Adam Mickiewicz. The Polish historian Tadeusz Ulewicz says that Kochanowski is seen as the most important Renaissance poet. This is true not only in Poland but across all Slavic nations. No other poet was as important until the 1800s. Then, Polish Romantics like Adam Mickiewicz and Juliusz Słowacki became famous. Alexander Pushkin in Russia also became very important.
According to Ulewicz, Kochanowski created modern Polish poetry. He also introduced it to Europe. An American scholar of Slavic studies, Oscar E. Swan, says Kochanowski was "the first Slavic author to achieve excellence on a European scale." Miłosz also wrote that Kochanowski was the most important Slavic poet until the 1800s. He "set the pace" for all future Polish poetry. The British historian Norman Davies calls Kochanowski the second most important figure of the Polish Renaissance, after Copernicus. Polish poet Jerzy Jarniewicz called Kochanowski "the founding father of Polish literature."
Kochanowski continued to write in Latin. One of his biggest achievements was creating Polish-language verse forms. These forms made him a "classic" for his time and for the future. He greatly improved Polish poetry by using foreign poetic forms. He made them feel truly Polish. Davies writes that Kochanowski "showed the Poles the beauty of their language."
American historian Larry Wolf says Kochanowski "helped create a culture in the Polish language." Polish historian Elwira Buszewicz calls him the "founding father" of elegant Polish poetry. American translator David Welsh says Kochanowski's greatest achievement was changing the Polish language for poetry. Ulewicz says Kochanowski's Songs were most important for this. Davies writes that "Kochanowski's Psalter did for Polish what Luther's Bible did for German." Kochanowski's works also influenced the development of Lithuanian literature.
Legacy
Kochanowski's first published collection of poems was his David's Psalter (printed 1579). Many of his works were published after he died. First, there was a series of books in Kraków from 1584–1590. This ended with Fragmenta albo pozostałe pisma (Fragments, or Remaining Writings). That series included works from his time in Padua and his Fraszki (Epigrams). In 1884, a special jubilee volume was published in Warsaw.
In 1875, many of Kochanowski's poems were translated into German. In 1894, the Encyclopedia Britannica called Kochanowski "the prince of Polish poets." However, for a long time, he was not well known outside of Slavic countries. The first English collection of his poems came out in 1928. The first English book about him appeared in 1974. Even in the early 1980s, his writings were often overlooked in English books. But more recently, new English translations have appeared. These include The Laments (1995) and The Envoys (2007).
Kochanowski's works have inspired modern Polish art. This includes literature, music, and visual art. Parts of his poetry were used in an opera called Jan Kochanowski. It was performed in Warsaw in 1817. In the 1800s, musical versions of Lamentations and the Psalter became popular. Stanisław Moniuszko wrote songs for bass and piano using texts from Lamentations. In 1862, the Polish painter Jan Matejko painted him in Jan Kochanowski and his Deceased Daughter Ursula. In 1961, a museum opened on Kochanowski's estate in Czarnolas. It is called the Jan Kochanowski Museum.
Images for kids
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Portrait by Józef Holewiński
See also
In Spanish: Jan Kochanowski para niños
- List of Poles
- Political fiction
- Sapphic stanza in Polish poetry
