Born: 1530, Sycyna, Poland
Died: 22 August, 1584, Lublin, Poland; buried in Zwolen.
Early days. His father Piotr Kochanowski was a nobleman and a judge in Sandomierz. His mother was Anna Bak.
Higher education.Jan was inscribed in 1544 as a student in Krakow Academy but left on account of the plague. Later, in 1551-52, he studied in Krolewiec (presently Kaliningrad, Russia) We find him studying at Padua in 1552 under the best instructors. There he had also contact with prominent scientists and with Poles that studied there. Among others with Francesco Robortello, Łukasz Górnicki, Andrzej Trzecieski, and Andrzej Nidecki .
Early works.Travles.There he wrote many of his Latin elegies in imitation of Tibullus and Propertius, these early works have little value. Then Kochanowski visited Królewiec for the second time (1555-1556), and made two trips to Italy (1556-1559). Thence he travelled to France, where he lived till his mother's death in 1557, writing more and better Latin poetry and where he met Ronsard.
Settling in Czarnolas.On his return to Poland he received his inheritance of Czarnolas, and was for some time a courtier, first of some great lords (among others Jan Firlej and the bishop Filip Padniewski), then about 1564 at the Royal Court of Zygmunt August. In 1568 participated in preparation of the excursion against the tzar Ivan the Terrible. During 1569-1570 he settled in Czarnolas. After the death of Zygmunt August (1572) he participated in the Elective Seym and became close to , Jana Zamoyski the king Stefan Batory’s chancellor.
Fraszki.During this period he produced, together with his best Latin elegies, his Polish songs and Fraszki (trifles). The former are the first really inspired poetry that appeared in Poland. The Fraszki , comical and witty but sometimes coarse, are very instructive, showing what social life was at that time. His "Zgoda" (Concord) and the "Satyr" are political in subject. Weary at last of court life, he retired to his estate. There he wrote "Proporzec" (The Standard) and "Wrozby" (Omens — in prose). This latter was a pamphlet warning Poles against future dangers and dissensions. He began his metrical translation of the Psalms, wrote more lyrics in Polish and Latin, and the poems "Dziewoslab" and "Sobotka" (description of certain old Polish customs).
Marriage. He is believed to have married Dorota Podlodowska about 1574. After the king’s Henry of Valois (Henryk Walezy) flight from Poland in 1574, Kochanowski wrote two short Latin poems: the ode, "In Conventu Stesicensi", and "Gallo Crocitanti", the latter being a reply to an attack on Poland by the French poet, Philip Desportes. King Stefan Batory was Kochanowski's hero, and most of his verses henceforth are full of political allusions to his reign.
The Envoys Dismissed, Psalter, Lamentations. His "Odprawa poslow greckich" (The Envoys Dismissed), dramatic in form, urged the nobles to fight Russia. In 1579 his "Psalter" was complete, written in a most beautiful style, and in 1580 appeared his last and best work, the "Treny" (Lamentations), after his little daughter Urszula’s death. Kochanowski is the first true poet of his nation in point of time, and first, too in excellence until Mickiewicz. The representative of the Polish chivalry and civilization of his period for his fellow-countrymen he is truly great, having created poetry and made it a gift to his nation — which none but the greatest could do. In religion though influenced by Protestantism and the humanistic trend, he never ceased to be a Catholic, even when attacking the morals of priests and popes. He distinctly declares that disunion in religion would imperil the country, and bade innovators "go to Trent".
Based on an article in:
Catholic Company
with the permission of Mr. Kevin Knight
See also Wikipedia, (wolna encyclopedia). For the selection of his works (in Polish: Treny, Fraszki etc.) see:
Uniw.Gdanski
English translations of some of his works:
Constance J. Ostrowski
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