Mikolaj Sep Szarzynski
Who is Mikolaj Sep Szarzynski
Mikołaj Sęp Szarzyński (c. 1550 – c. 1581) was an influential Polish poet of the late Renaissance who wrote in both Polish and Latin. He was a pioneer of the Baroque and the greatest representative of the metaphysical movement of the era in Poland. His love poems are often classed as mannerist. Jan Błoński has called Sęp Szarzyński a "mystical poet full of abstraction", and Wiktor Weintraub has called him "the most outstanding poet of the times of Jan Kochanowski". The poet's status in the history of Polish literature is controversial.
Life
Little is known about Sęp Szarzyński's personal life. He was born in Zimna Woda near Lwów, the eldest of three sons, and educated at the universities of Wittenberg and Leipzig. His stay in Germany brought him close t...
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Mikolaj Sep Szarzynski Poems
- Song I
Dear people, swelled in fool's wisdom
And clinging to error so fanciful,
To the skies, adorned in hosts of fair stars,
Look up - and make bright your dimlit minds!
...
- Song Ii
Why flatter thyself, Tyrant,
In ways great in evil?
The Lord's goodness ceases not
Keeping watch on the pious.
...
- Sonnet V
'Tis hard to love not, whilst to love
Be sad joy, if by lust misled,
Thoughts too sweetly gaze on things
That perforce must change and decay.
...
- Cupid's Statue
He's but a child, tho
Unscathed he'd not be
Who despiseth him.
Gods so pompous
...
- Song Vi
Our almighty Lord, eternal, unfathomed,
To Thee Cherubin proclaim "Holy, holy, holy!"
To Thee too, Seraph, true love's pure brand;
A fiery firmament tho marks Thy glory's stead.
...
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Mikolaj Sep Szarzynski Quotes
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Comments about Mikolaj Sep Szarzynski
- Stanleysbill: late renaissance/early baroque tones with mikołaj sęp szarzyński (c. 1550-c. 1581):
peace - is happiness, but earth's condition
is struggle. the stern hetman of darkness
and the world's sweet vanities are tireless
as they persevere for our corruption.
(trans. b. carpenter)
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