Piotr Kochanowski (1566–1620) was a Polish nobleman, poet and translator. He belonged to a family of writers. He was a son of Mikołaj Kochanowski and a nephew of

Jan Kochanowski Jan Kochanowski (; 1530 – 22 August 1584) was a Polish Renaissance poet who established poetic patterns that would become integral to the Polish literary language. He is commonly regarded as the greatest Polish poet before Adam Mickiewicz. ...

. He was born in 1566 in Sycyna. He is famous for his translations from Italian. He translated into Polish what were generally esteemed to be the two greatest modern epic poems: Ludovico Ariosto's '' Orlando furioso'' (''Roland Enraged'') and

Torquato Tasso Torquato Tasso ( , also , ; 11 March 154425 April 1595) was an Italian poet of the 16th century, known for his 1591 poem ''Gerusalemme liberata'' ( Jerusalem Delivered), in which he depicts a highly imaginative version of the combats between ...

's ''Gerusalemme liberata'' (''

Jerusalem Delivered ''Jerusalem Delivered'', also known as ''The Liberation of Jerusalem'' ( it, La Gerusalemme liberata ; ), is an epic poem by the Italian poet Torquato Tasso, first published in 1581, that tells a largely mythified version of the First Crusad ...

''). His version of Tasso's poem served as the Polish national epic. Piotr Kochanowski was the second poet in Poland (after

Sebastian Grabowiecki Sebastian Grabowiecki (c. 1543 – 1607) was a Polish Catholic priest and poet. He was the author of ''Setnik rymów duchownych'' and ''Setnik rymów duchownych wtóry'' (''Spiritual Rhymes'' parts 1 and 2). His work, focused entirely on reli ...

) to use

ottava rima Ottava rima is a rhyming stanza form of Italian origin. Originally used for long poems on heroic themes, it later came to be popular in the writing of mock-heroic works. Its earliest known use is in the writings of Giovanni Boccaccio. The ott ...

, which became very popular in Baroque Polish poetry. He died on 2 August 1620 and was buried at the Franciscan church in Cracow. He is commonly regarded as one of the most important Polish writers of the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

.Jerzy Starnawski, Zarys dziejów literatury staropolskiej, Towarzystwo Naukowe KUL, Lublin 1993, p. 105 (in Polish). See also Julian Krzyżanowski, Piotr Kochanowski i jego dzieło n:Przekład artystyczny. O sztuce tłumaczenia. Księga druga, Ossolineum, Wrocław 1975, p. 149-154 (in Polish).

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Gofred albo Jeruzalem wyzwolona. Poemat bohaterski Torkwata Tasa. Przekład Piotra Kochanowskiego. Wydanie Kazimierza Józefa Turowskiego. Nakład i druk Karola Pollaka, Sanok 1856.
1566 births 1620 deaths Renaissance writers Polish Roman Catholics 16th-century Polish nobility Polish male poets Polish translators University of Königsberg alumni University of Padua alumni 17th-century Polish nobility {{Poland-writer-stub