Polish Literature:
From the Middle Ages to 1863

University of Michigan

Polish 425

Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures
Fall 1992
Instructor: Dr. Bogdana Carpenter

Required Readings:

Jan Kochanowski, Laments, selected poems, The Dismissal of the Grecian Envoys
Jan Pasek, Memoirs of the Polish Baroque (excerpts)
Adam Mickiewicz, selected poems and ballads, The Forefathers' Eve, Part III, Pan Tadeusz
Zygmunt Krasinski, The Undivine Comedy
Bogdana Carpenter, Ed., Monumenta Polonica: The First Four Centuries of Polish Poetry
Poems in the COURSEPACK 425 (pre-1992 classes) or Monumenta Polonica (1992 change)

Coursepack 425:

"Bogurodzica"
"Lament of Our Lady at the Foot of the Cross"
"Conversation of a Master with Death"
Rej, "A Short Conversation
Kochanowski, Songs XXIV and XXV, "St. John's Eve," Laments
Sep-Szarzynski, Sonnets I, II, IV, V, "Epitaph for Rome"
Szymonowic, "The Wedding Cakes"
Naborowski, "The Spectacle," "The Brevity of Life"
Szymon Zimorowic, "Hippolyte," "Bineda," "Hiacynth"
J.A. Morsztyn, "On His Mistress," "To His Mistress," "To a Corpse," "On the Little Cross," "Departure"
Z. Morsztyn, Emblem 41
W. Potocki, The War of Khotim
Kochowski, Psalm XXVI
Krasicki, "My Precious Thought," "Drunkenness," "Preface to the Fables," "The Philosopher," "The Bigot," "Charity," "The Lamb and the Wolves"
Karpinski, "To Justyna," "On the Lord's Nativity"
Kniaznin, "The Effect of Pleasure"
Preromantic but not from Monumenta Polonica:
Kochanowski, The Dismissal of the Grecian Envoys
Pasek, Memoirs, pages 1-92 and 249-256
Romanticism:
Mickiewicz, "To M.," Crimean Sonnets I, II, III, IV, "Guards," "The Lillies," Konrad Wallenrod, Lausanne Lyrics
Slowacki, "Hymn" (Peterkiewicz's Anthology)
Norwid from Czerniawski, pp. 28-43
Krasinski, The Undivine Comedy (from Segel)

Schedule of Lectures

Week
  1. Middle Ages
  2. Renaissance - Klemens Janicki, Biernat of Lublin
  3. Renaissance - Mikolaj Rej
  4. Renaissance - Jan Kochanowski: "Song of St. John's Eve," Laments
  5. Renaissance - Kochanowski: The Dismissal of the Grecian Envoys, Sz. Szymonowic
  6. Early Baroque - Mikolaj Sep-Szarzynski
  7. XVIIth century: High Baroque - J.A. Morsztyn, Zbigniew Morsztyn
    Late Baroque and Sarmatism - J. Pasek: The Memoirs
  8. The Enlightenment - Ignacy Krasicki
  9. Romanticism - Adam Mickiewicz, Ballads and Romances, Konrad Wallenrod
  10. Romanticism - Mickiewicz, Forefathers' Eve, Pan Tadeusz
  11. Romanticism - Juliusz Slowacki
  12. Romanticism - Zygmunt Krasinski
  13. Romanticism - Cyprian Norwid

Papers and exams:

Two papers, midterm and the final examination.

Return to September 1992 Issue
The Sarmatian Review
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Last updated 04/15/97