The ''Laments'' (also ''

Lamentations The Book of Lamentations ( he, אֵיכָה, , from its incipit meaning "how") is a collection of poetic laments for the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. In the Hebrew Bible it appears in the Ketuvim ("Writings") as one of the Five Megillo ...

'' or '' Threnodies''; pl, Treny, originally spelled ''Threny'') are a series of nineteen threnodies (

elegies An elegy is a poem of serious reflection, and in English literature usually a lament for the dead. However, according to ''The Oxford Handbook of the Elegy'', "for all of its pervasiveness ... the 'elegy' remains remarkably ill defined: sometime ...

) by

Jan Kochanowski Jan Kochanowski (; 1530 – 22 August 1584) was a Polish Renaissance poet who established poetic patterns that would become integral to the Polish literary language. He is commonly regarded as the greatest Polish poet before Adam Mickiewicz. ...

. Written in Polish and published in 1580, they are a highlight of Polish Renaissance

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to ...

, and one of Kochanowski's signature achievements.Poet's Corner: "Jan Kochanowski's ''Threnodies''
", in ''

Warsaw Voice ''Warsaw Voice: Polish and Central European Review'' (shortly ''The Warsaw Voice'') is an English-language newspaper printed in Poland, concentrating on news about Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Centr ...

'', no. 43 (470) (October 26, 1997). Includes ''Threnody V''. "Jan KOCHANOWSKI
, by Prof. Edmund Kotarski, in the ''Virtual Library of Polish Literature''.
Excerpts from the book, ''Jan Kochanowski, The Threnodies, and The Dismissal of the Greek Envoys'', by Barry Keane. Includes ''Threnodies'' I, III, VI, XII and XIX.

Composition

was a prominent Polish poet. Kochanowski wrote the ''Laments'' on the occasion of the 1579 death of his daughter Urszula (in English, "Ursula"). Little is known of Urszula (or ''Urszulka''—"little Ursula"), except that at her death she was two and a half years old. Her tender age has caused some critics to question Kochanowski's truthfulness, when he describes her as a budding poetess — a "Slavic

Sappho Sappho (; el, Σαπφώ ''Sapphō'' ; Aeolic Greek ''Psápphō''; c. 630 – c. 570 BC) was an Archaic Greek poet from Eresos or Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. Sappho is known for her Greek lyric, lyric poetry, written to be sung while ...

". There is, however, no doubt as to the unaffected sentiments expressed in the nineteen Roman-numbered ''Laments'', of varying length, which still speak to readers across the four and a quarter centuries since they were composed. The poems express Kochanowski's boundless grief; and, standing in sharp contrast to his previous works, which had advocated such values as

stoicism Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens in the early 3rd century BCE. It is a philosophy of personal virtue ethics informed by its system of logic and its views on the natural world, asserting tha ...

, can be seen as the poet's own critique of his earlier work. In a wider sense, they show a thinking man of the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...

at a moment of crisis when he is forced, through suffering and the stark confrontation of his ideals with reality, to re-evaluate his former humanistic philosophy of life. The ''Laments'' belong to a

poetic

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other f ...

of grief ( threnody, or

elegy An elegy is a poem of serious reflection, and in English literature usually a lament for the dead. However, according to ''The Oxford Handbook of the Elegy'', "for all of its pervasiveness ... the 'elegy' remains remarkably ill defined: sometime ...

), and the entire work comprises parts characteristic of epicedia: the first poems introduce the tragedy and feature a

eulogy A eulogy (from , ''eulogia'', Classical Greek, ''eu'' for "well" or "true", ''logia'' for "words" or "text", together for "praise") is a speech or writing in praise of a person or persons, especially one who recently died or retired, or as ...

of the decedent; then come verses of

lament A lament or lamentation is a passionate expression of grief, often in music, poetry, or song form. The grief is most often born of regret, or mourning. Laments can also be expressed in a verbal manner in which participants lament about somet ...

ation, demonstrating the magnitude of the poet's loss and grief; followed at last by verses of

consolation Consolation, consolement, and solace are terms referring to psychological comfort given to someone who has suffered severe, upsetting loss, such as the death of a loved one. It is typically provided by expressing shared regret for that loss an ...

and instruction. Kochanowski, while drawing on the achievements of classical poets such as

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the esta ...

Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...

, Seneca and

Statius Publius Papinius Statius ( Greek: Πόπλιος Παπίνιος Στάτιος; ; ) was a Greco-Roman poet of the 1st century CE. His surviving Latin poetry includes an epic in twelve books, the ''Thebaid''; a collection of occasional poetry, ...

, as well as on later works by

Petrarch Francesco Petrarca (; 20 July 1304 – 18/19 July 1374), commonly anglicized as Petrarch (), was a scholar and poet of early Renaissance Italy, and one of the earliest humanists. Petrarch's rediscovery of Cicero's letters is often credited ...

and his own Renaissance contemporaries such as

Pierre de Ronsard Pierre de Ronsard (; 11 September 1524 – 27 December 1585) was a French poet or, as his own generation in France called him, a " prince of poets". Early life Pierre de Ronsard was born at the Manoir de la Possonnière, in the village of ...

, stepped outside the borders of known genres, and his ''Laments'' constitute a mixed form ranging from

epigram An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word is derived from the Greek "inscription" from "to write on, to inscribe", and the literary device has been employed for over two mill ...

epitaph An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...

, not to mention

psalm The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived f ...

odic song. When the ''Treny'' were published (1580), Kochanowski was criticized for having taken as the subject of his ''Laments'' the death of a young child, against the prevailing literary convention that this form should be reserved for "great men" and "great events."

Influence

The ''Laments'' are numbered among the greatest attainments of Polish poetry. Their exquisite

conceit An extended metaphor, also known as a conceit or sustained metaphor, is the use of a single metaphor or analogy at length in a work of literature. It differs from a mere metaphor in its length, and in having more than one single point of contact bet ...

s and artistry made them a model to ''literati'' of the 16th and especially the 17th century. The ''Laments'' have also inspired musician

and painters such as

Jan Matejko Jan Alojzy Matejko (; also known as Jan Mateyko; 24 June 1838 – 1 November 1893) was a Polish painter, a leading 19th-century exponent of history painting, known for depicting nodal events from Polish history. His works include large scale ...

Translation into English

* 1920 by Dorothea Prall * 1995 by

Stanisław Barańczak Stanisław Barańczak (, November 13, 1946December 26, 2014) was a Polish poet, literary critic, scholar, editor, translator and lecturer. He is perhaps most well known for his English-to- Polish translations of the dramas of William Shakespeare a ...

and Nobel-laureate poet

Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (; 13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature.

''Lament 1''

All

Heraclitus Heraclitus of Ephesus (; grc-gre, Ἡράκλειτος , "Glory of Hera"; ) was an ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher from the city of Ephesus, which was then part of the Persian Empire. Little is known of Heraclitus's life. He wrot ...

' tears, all threnodies
And plaintive

dirge A dirge ( la, dirige, naenia) is a somber song or lament expressing mourning or grief, such as would be appropriate for performance at a funeral. Often taking the form of a brief hymn, dirges are typically shorter and less meditative than elegi ...

s of

Simonides Simonides of Ceos (; grc-gre, Σιμωνίδης ὁ Κεῖος; c. 556–468 BC) was a Greek lyric poet, born in Ioulis on Ceos. The scholars of Hellenistic Alexandria included him in the canonical list of the nine lyric poets esteeme ...

,
All keens and slow airs in the world, all

grief Grief is the response to loss, particularly to the loss of someone or some living thing that has died, to which a bond or affection was formed. Although conventionally focused on the emotional response to loss, grief also has physical, cogniti ...

s,
Wrung hands, wet eyes,

s and

s,
All, all assemble, come from every quarter,
Help me to mourn my small girl, my dear daughter,
Whom cruel

Death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

tore up with such wild force
Out of my life, it left me no recourse.
So the snake, when he finds a hidden nest
Of fledgling

nightingale The common nightingale, rufous nightingale or simply nightingale (''Luscinia megarhynchos''), is a small passerine bird best known for its powerful and beautiful song. It was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but is no ...

s, rears and strikes fast
Repeatedly, while the poor mother bird
Tries to distract him with a fierce, absurd
Fluttering — but in vain! the venomous tongue
Darts, and she must retreat on ruffled wing.
"You weep in vain," my friends will say. But then,
What is not in vain, by God, in lives of men?
All is in vain! We play at blindman's buff
Until hard edges break into our path.
Man's life is

error An error (from the Latin ''error'', meaning "wandering") is an action which is inaccurate or incorrect. In some usages, an error is synonymous with a mistake. The etymology derives from the Latin term 'errare', meaning 'to stray'. In statistics ...

. Where, then, is relief?
In shedding tears or wrestling down my grief?From the

Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (; 13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature.

translation, p. 3.

Notes

References

*Barry Keane, ''Jan Kochanowski, Threnodies and The Dismissal of the Greek Envoys''. *

, ''Laments'', translated by

and

Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (; 13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature.

, New York, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1995. *

, ''Laments'', translated by Michael J. Mikos, Warsaw, Constanz, 1995. *

, ''Treny: the Laments of Kochanowski'', translated by Adam Czerniawski, Oxford, Legenda, 2001. * Michael J. Mikos, ''Polish Renaissance Literature: an Anthology'', Slavica Publishers, 1995.

External links

*, review of ''Laments'' translation by Barańczak and Heaney, by Felicity Rosslyn, ''Cambridge Quarterly'', volume 26, issue 4.
Bringing a Great Poet Back to Life
review of ''Laments'' translation by Barańczak and Heaney. by

Czesław Miłosz Czesław Miłosz (, also , ; 30 June 1911 – 14 August 2004) was a Polish-American poet, prose writer, translator, and diplomat. Regarded as one of the great poets of the 20th century, he won the 1980 Nobel Prize in Literature. In its citation, ...

, ''

New York Review of Books New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

'', vol. 43, no. 3 (February 15, 1996). See als
this reply

* ttp://www.instytutksiazki.pl/index.php?id=19&L=1&user_fragmenty_pi1%5BshowUid%5D=149&cHash=abd83f038c Treny. Short descriptions and translation of 1 and 8 by Adam Czerniawskibr>Treny. The Laments of Kochanowski
Review of Czerniawski's translation, by Steven Clancy, ''

Sarmatian Review The ''Sarmatian Review'' () is an English-language peer-reviewed academic tri-quarterly journal devoted to Slavistics (the study of the histories, cultures, and societies of the Slavic nations of Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe). The '' ...

'', vol. XXIII, no. 1 January 2003.
Treny
nbsp;– all the poems of the ''Treny'' series.

and possible image of Urszula
''Laments''
translated by Dorothea Prall * {{librivox book , title=Treny - Laments, author=Kochanowski (English and Polish) 1580 books Polish poems Laments

Composition

Influence

Translation into English

''Lament 1''

See also

Notes

References

External links