What Price the Worth of Man (In Homage to Jan Kochanowski) by Baroness Katarzyna Witkowska

What Price the Worth of Man (In Homage to Jan Kochanowski) by Baroness Katarzyna Witkowska “What Price the Worth of Man” was inspired by Jan Kochanowski, a 16th century poet, playwright and translator. In particular, Song 9, Book 1, Pieśń świętojańska o sobótce (quoted below in English) was my inspiration. Kochanowski is probably the first Polish poet who writes in a similar fashion to other European poets and playwrights. I have been studying his works and others as representative of my Polish heritage. Kochanowski was a European Renaissance “Man of Letters” whose poetic genius was the first of such brilliance in Poland. Kochanowski was born in 1530 and died in 1584 in Lublin. Let us look at what makes Kochanowski’s work so different from Polish poetry until this point. History of Polish Poetry While there is a rich legacy of oral Polish poetry, songs and stories, written poetry in medieval Poland is scarce. The official language in the early days was Latin and most literary works were written in Latin. Polish had not developed as a written language because of its complexity. Finally, in the second half of the sixteenth century Polish literary language began to flourish. The first poem found written in vernacular Polish was Bogurodzica. This poem and a few others are singular linguistic tributes to the Polish language. Bogurodzica and a four line Easter song are the only remnants of poetry written before the fifteenth century. The poem Bogurodizca [bɔɡurɔˈd͡ ʑi͡tsa], Mother of God) was composed during the 10th century. The first written copies, which have been preserved to this date, were written down at the beginning of the 15th century and include: (1) the Kcynia record, which includes two initial stanzas with musical notation, and (2) the Kraków record, which includes thirteen stanzas without notes. It is 1 interesting to note that these thirteen additional stanzas were composed over the years and were not part of the original poem. St. Adelbert (956-997), the Bishop of Prague, composed this hymn in the Bohemian language, which had a great influence on Polish. This poem was popular throughout Poland’s history. It was sung as a carmen patrium in 1410 at the Battle of Grunwald. In the Jagellonia dynasty it was sung as a national anthem. The excerpt below is written in the language of the Cracow Text and would have been sung in this old language style. Bogurodizca (Mother of God) Bogurodzica dziewica, Bogiem sławiena Maryja, Virgin, Mother of God, God-famed Mary! U twego syna Gospodzina Matko zwolena, Ask Thy Son, our Lord, God-named Mary, Maryja! To have mercy upon us and hand it over to Zyszczy nam, spuści nam. us! Kyrie elison! Kyrie eleison! Twego dziela Krzciciela, bożycze, Son of God, for Thy Baptist's sake, Usłysz głosy, napełń myśli człowiecze. Hear the voices, fulfill the pleas we make! Słysz modlitwę, jąż nosimy, Listen to the prayer we say, A dać raczy, jegoż prosimy: For what we ask, give us today: A na świecie zbożny pobyt, Life on earth free of vice; Po żywocie rajski przebyt. After life: paradise! Kyrie elison! Kyrie eleison! Below I have written a stanza of my own to add to this poem (I regret I am unable to do so in Latin and give the verse justice): Son of God, in Thy Mother’s name, Heed our prayers, remove from us all blame! Mercy grant to us this day, For what we have done, pardon pray; Forsake ill, good employ; Dwell above: in pure joy. Kyrie eleison! The period from 1000 to 1500, during which time the poem Mother of God would have already been written and subsequently sung, is defined by Paul Soboleski in his “Poets and Poetry of Poland” as the First Epoch or “Morning Star” of Polish Literature. The whole of 2 Polish Literature is divided by Soboleski into five Epochs. This first epoch begins with the introduction of Christianity and extends to the time when printing came into general use. In this time period we see two types of poetry: (1) relics of sacred poetry and (2) secular rhythmical creations. Unfortunately, a good deal of the literature from this time period has been completely lost or defaced by continual handling and translation. In 1241 invading Mongol hordes destroyed all of the literature in monasteries and castles Prior to the Second Epoch, Polish poetry was didactic, teaching a lesson, or religious in nature. A good example of a didactic poem is written by Prezecław Słota, the burgrave of Poznań from 1398 to 1400. He is credited with the oldest secular poem, “On Table Manners.” The first part of the poem actually speaks of table manners but the second part is a diatribe in honor of women. The original manuscript was destroyed. Similar poems have been written in Latin, French, German and Czech. The original Polish texts used 8-syllable lines but somewhat inconsistently. The rhymes are sometimes paired and sometimes tripled. Here is an excerpt from that poem. O Lord, grant me an understanding, So that I could say something important About the bread-table. It will bring together fruits of the field, What is in the barn and the sack, Whatever will grow in the soil, All this will lie on the table. That is why the table is a generous lord: Beer and water stand on it, Also meat and bread, And many other provisions; According to his station, Everyone may get something. No one will be cheerful in the morning, But once he sits at the table, He'll forget all worries. And he should sit in peace, And he should also eat well. Many a man who sits at the table, Will sit down like an ox, 3 Like a pole stuck in the ground. He has no plate for his food, So as to slice a piece for his neighbor, And he grabs first for the bowl, Because his mouth waters as if for honey Let a sore cover his mouth! These works were written in Latin as there was no written form of the Polish language. Around 1270, in the Book of Henryków (Polish: Księga henrykowska, Latin: Liber fundationis claustri Sancte Marie Virginis in Heinrichau), the earliest known sentence written in the Polish language appears: Day, ut ia pobrusa, a ti poziwai (pronounced originally as: Daj, uć ja pobrusza, a ti pocziwaj, English: Come, let me grind, and you take a rest). A Cistercian monk, Peter of the Henryków monastery, stated "Hoc est in polonico" ("This is in Polish"). Kochanowski’s Life and Works Jan Kochanowski’s work appears in Soboleski’s Second Epoch (or the Sigismund Epoch) from 1500 to 1620. My poem honors Kochanowski’s genius. Below is a a brief background on the man and some of his work, although I cannot hope to show his extensive works here. Kochanowski was admitted to the liberal arts department at the Krakow Academy in 1544. Here he found himself in one of Europe's major centers of humanism. He continued his studies in Królewiec and Padua. In Padua, Kochanowski studied under humanists such as Francesco Robortello and Bernardino Tomitano. During this time, he greatly expanded his classical education, absorbing Renaissance ideas. After Padua, he travelled to France and met Pierre Ronsard, the greatest poet of French Renaissance and champion of vernacular literature. In Kochanowski’s times, Renaissance culture flourished in Krakow at magnate courts. Renaissance humanism evoked the standards of antique culture and propounded freedom of human reason and the right to intellectual independence in studying the world. Humanism's top maxim 'homo sum, a me alienum esse puto' ('I am a human being, so nothing human is strange to 4 me') expressed affirmation of all areas of human existence: the spiritual, the physical, and the social. All these major themes were manifest in Kochanowski's work. Kochanowski's lyrical talent demonstrated itself best in Pieśni (The Songs). He wrote these songs throughout his life. Pieśni were written in four-line syllabic stanzas of varied format. Extremely vast in scope, they expressed the entire outlook of life of the Renaissance poet. Some of the best-known songs were included in the cycle Pieśń świętojańska o sobótce (The Midsummer Night's Song). They were extraordinarily suited for daily use, their four-line stanzas of paired rhymes almost imposing a tune. The songs, set within the frame of the Midsummer Night festivities, are sung one by one by twelve maidens grouped round the bonfire. They are about the beauty of nature, love, and suffering. Below is a translation of Song 9, Book 1, which was the inspiration for my poem: We want to make merry. Tell your men to hurry, Let them, lord, bring good wine to the table And play the lute or the golden fiddle. Who is so wise to guess What tomorrow offers? God alone knows it and laughs from heaven, When man worries more than it is prudent. Use your wealth with prudence. It all starts where it ends, Let Fortune have sway: if it wants kindly, If it wants otherwise-it holds mastery. It's easy for Fortune: One who stands, has fallen; And the one who was just under its foot, Behold him now, down at us he will look. All will strangely tangle In this world, so humble: He who'd like to grasp all things with his mind, Will die before the answer he will find. In vain the mortal cares For these timeless affairs: He will not escape, that much he should know, 5 What God had ordained for him long ago.

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