Abstrakt: | The present book is a collection of selected aspects of the reception and
functioning of mythological tradition in the literature of Renaissance and Baroque.
In the first part, there are texts that specify the attitude towards mythology
adopted by two most important Polish writers of the Renaissance period:
Mikołaj Rej and Jan Kochanowski. The analysis of the nature of the mythological
references presented in the article entitled Rej i mitologia [Rej and mythology]
confirms the hypotheses formulated in the latest research into Rej’s writings on
its medieval roots. It is evidenced by the following: the derogatory assessment
of mythological tradition; the interpretation and adaptation of antique motifs in
a spirit of allegoresis, euhemerism, and astrology; the sources of mythological
knowledge and the place of mythologisms in the structure of a literary work. Rej
did not consider mythology as an indispensable constituent of poetic language,
which is demonstrated in the works that are completely devoid of it. The article
entitled ”Owa prosto będziecie ze mnie mieć Chirona”. Kod mitologiczny „Fraszek”
Jana Kochanowskiego [ ”Owa prosto będziecie ze mnie mieć Chirona”. The mythological
code of ‘Epigrams’ by Jan Kochanowski”] advances a thesis that Kochanowski
took advantage of mythological tradition intentionally and deliberately. Even
in the translations of antique literature, mythologisms were not taken over
automatically, but rather were subjected to the process of adaptation and selection.
The juxtaposition of Epigrams with foricoena confirms the assumption that
the manner of employing mythological tradition is a part of poetic strategy of
Kochanowski. Moreover, it seems that, to some extent, the conclusions reached
on the basis of the analysis of mythologisms in Epigrams may be related to the
whole Polish-language writings of the poet.
The second part is devoted to the studies on baroque religious literature
represented by three separate research fields. The study Apollo u żłóbka i stajenka,
która przewyższa Olimp. Antyk w staropolskich pastorałkach dramatycznych
[Apollo at the manger and the stable which overtowers Olympus. Antique in Old
Polish pastoral dramas] makes use of works commemorating Christmas, mostly
anonymous and connected with Jesuitical drama and education. Despite the fact
that mythologisms here are infrequent, their significance is not quite marginal,
as they co-create the vision of the world in which everything, including the historically
and ideologically alien antique tradition, is subjected to didactic aims furthered by church authorities. Pastoral dramas consistently refer to Eclogue 4,
the so-called Virgil’s messianic, regarded as prophetic in Middle Ages, and here
combined with biblical tradition. The next text concerns the paraphrase of the
antique work written by Kasper Miaskowski („Polio polski” Kaspra Miaskowskiego:
Wergiliusz odmieniony „wedle potrzeby” [“Polio polski” by Kasper Miaskowski:
Virgil transformed as required]). The modifications introduced by the poet lead to
a modernization and particularization of the text and its explicit contextualization
in Christian reality. The article Mitologia w perswazji kaznodziejskiej [Mythology
in preacher’s persuasion] focuses its attention on the field of literature that is
in principle devoid of any references to antique tradition. The reading of the
compilation of Sunday sermons, by, among others, Franciszek Rychłowski, Antoni
Węgrzynowicz, Berard Gutowski, and Bazyli Rychlewicz, allows to identify
the aspects of the functioning of mythologisms that are different than those in
poetry, as well as an ambivalent attitude towards them.
The third part contains texts that undertake the issue of mythology as an
element shaping poetic language and love discourse. The article Słodki i okrutny.
Wizerunek Kupidyna w poezji staropolskiej [Sweet and cruel. The image of Cupid in Old
Polish poetry] provides a characteristics of this extremely significant mythological
figure that encompasses its antique origin and poetic images in the poetry of
Polish Renaissance and Baroque. An important role of Cupid is the shaping of
love discourse, especially in intricate poetry of the 17th century. A separate attention
is drawn by the theme initiated by Andreas Alciatus, which demonstrates
a tragicomic history of accidental exchange of weapons belonging to the gods of
love and death, developed by, among others, Mikołaj Rej and Wacław Potocki.
The article Topika mitologiczna w poezji dawnej [Mythological topoi in old poetry]
attempts to situate antique mythology within Old Polish topoi and specify its
role in poetic realizations of loci communes. The revision of the state of research
is done with a view to take the attitude towards various suggestions concerning
the understanding of the notion of topos, and employing it in the analysis
of mythologisms in old poetry, with a special emphasis placed on the topoi of
Apollo. The analytical part of the work is devoted to the observation of various
kinds of topoi in baroque poetry, their variability and the way they are
used in poetic texts.
The terms used in the article Szyfr, kod i konwencja. Staropolskie sposoby
„mówienia mitologią” [Cipher, code and convention. Old-Polish ways of “talking mythology”]
refer to the ways of exploiting antique mythology in Old Polish works,
from concealing specific information under the layer of literal meaning, through
the enhancement of a text with cultural references, to conventional usages,
when a mythologism plays mainly an ornamental function. Mythological plots
and characters appear in Old Polish works most frequently together with allegorical
background. Some of these allegories are universal in nature (being
the consequence of the search for universal truth in myths),while others, which
are the manifestation of adapting antique topics to the Christian worldview,
have become outdated, but they still perform an important role in understanding
texts of culture. |