“Frail, yet headstrong, a soul in isolation?” – Mikołaj Sęp Szarzyński
to talk about selected works of Mikołaj Sęp Szarzyński
to determine the features of a sonnetsonnet
to identify stylistic devices and describe their functions
to read the message of Mikołaj Sęp Szarzyński’s sonnet and determine its mood
Familiarise yourself with Old Polish poetry.
The works of M. Sęp Szarzyński, which are exceptionally appreciated in modern days, greatly trouble literary scholars. The dispute regarding to which era the works of the poets qualify is still ongoing.
To the Renaissance? The prevalent ideas in Sęp’s works refer to the Baroque... To the Baroque? But Sęp Szarzyński died a few years before Jan Kochanowski, who represented the Renaissance era…
Some literary scholars claim that mannerismmannerism should be considered a separate trend, and perhaps even a separate era placed between the Renaissance and the Baroque. In Poland, the poetry of Sęp Szarzyński could be the best example of mannerist poetry.
Review the characteristic features of the mannerism. If you are not familiar with them, check for information on any resource. Select the correct answer.
- a refinement and ingenuity of the form
- a frugality of means of expression
- a faithful imitation of real life
- artificiality, numerous contrasts
- enhanced expression
- harmonious and simple composition
The poetics of Sęp Szarzyński is extremely characteristic. It is a demanding poetry, both from the creator and the addressee. The sonnet is a genre bound by a number of imitations, namely: the number of verses, the rhyming system and the character of individual stanzas. The use of enjambment, oxymoron, inversion, alliteration, etc., makes the poetry of Sęp Sarzyński differ significantly from what an ordinary, used‑to‑the‑Renaissance‑model‑of‑poetry reader could expect.
Select the features characteristic to the sonnet.
- it belongs to prose
- it belongs to lyrics
- it consists of two four-verse stanzas and two three-verse stanzas
- it consists of four stanzas of different number of verses
- it has a fixed rhyme pattern
- it may have rhyme or blank verse
- the two final stanzas are usually contemplative
- the two final stanzas are usually humorous
Mikołaj Sęp Szarzyński was one of the first poets to write sonnets in Polish. Check if Sęp Szarzyński’s poem is really a sonnet.
Sonet I: O krótkości i niepewności na świecie żywota człowieczegoEchej, jak gwałtem obrotne obłoki
I Tytan prędki lotne czasy pędzą,
A chciwa może odciąć rozkosz nędzą
Śmierć –tuż za nami spore czyni kroki.A ja, co dalej, lepiej cień głęboki
Błędów mych widzę, które gęsto jędzą
Strwożone serce ustawiczną nędzą,
I z płaczem ganię młodości mej skoki.O moc o rozkosz o skarby pilności,
Choćby nie darmo były przedsię szkodzą,
Bo naszę chciwość od swej szczęśliwościWłasnej (co Bogiem zowiemy) odwodzą
Niestałe dobra! O, stokroć szczęśliwy,
Który tych cieniów w czas zna kształt prawdziwy.Source: Mikołaj Sęp-Szarzyński, Sonet I: O krótkości i niepewności na świecie żywota człowieczego, [w:] tegoż, Antologia polskiej poezji metafizycznej epoki baroku. Od Mikołaja Sępa-Szarzyńskiego do Stanisława Herakliusza Lubomirskiego, oprac. Krzysztof Mrowcewicz, Warszawa 1993, s. 49.
Does the title of the poem correspond to its content? Justify your answer.
The main subject of Sonnet I by Mikołaj Sęp Szarzyński is...
- autothematic
- love
- religion
- revelry
- patriotism
- contemplation and philosophy
Explain how Death’s behaviour was depicted in the poem.
Determine the cause of the speaker’s anxiety in Sonnet I.
What does the lyrical persona consider to be of little value, leading to sin? Justify your answer by indicating relevant fragments of the poem. Select the correct answer.
- power
- faith
- pleasure
- wealth
The works of M. Sęp Szarzyński belong to the mainstream of metaphysical poetry. The term was originally used to describe works of English lyricists from the turn of the 16th and 17th century. In the 20th century the term applied to works touching on subjects like the precariousness of life, the vanity of human life, sinfulness or yielding to passions. The works of Sęp Szarzyński, however, were not solely pessimistic since there was hope that with God’s help the temptations of Satan, the world and the body could be overcome.
Keywords
metaphysics, mannerism, sonnet, vanitas, existence
Glossary
metafizyka
manieryzm
sonet
vanitas
egzystencja