Kasper Twardowski (ca. 1592 – ca. 1641)
[ Most widely held works by Kasper Twardowski.](_blank)
''OCLC ResearchWorks'' Online Computer Library Center, WorldCat Identities, Dublin OH, USA. was a Polish poet of the
early Polish Baroque period, representing the so-called ''
metaphysical
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...
'' or metaphysical-and-devotional line of poets. Little is known of his personal life. Twardowski was most likely born in Sambor (now
Sambir
Sambir ( uk, Самбір, pl, Sambor, yi, סאמבאָר, Sambor) is a city in Sambir Raion, Lviv Oblast, Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Sambir Raion (district) and is located close to the border with Poland. Sambir hosts t ...
) into the family of the local tailor, and spent his youth in
Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...
(Cracow),
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
, where he is assumed to have studied at the
Jagiellonian University
The Jagiellonian University (Polish: ''Uniwersytet Jagielloński'', UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and the 13th oldest university in ...
(then known as the Kraków Academy). In 1629 Twardowski moved probably to Lwów (
Lviv
Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...
), where he died. Twardowski is best known for his erotica called "the Cupid's Lessons", banned by the bishop of Kraków, and later rejected by the poet himself as immoral; blamed for his own poor health as the apparent
wrath
Anger, also known as wrath or rage, is an intense emotional state involving a strong uncomfortable and non-cooperative response to a perceived provocation, hurt or threat.
A person experiencing anger will often experience physical effects, su ...
of God.
[, ]
Kasper Twardowski.
''Culture.pl'', December 2008. Published in ''Antologia polskiej poezji od Średniowiecza do wieku XXI.'' Retrieved September 17, 2011.[Roman Mazurkiewicz]
''Staropolska On-line.'' Barok. Retrieved September 17, 2011.
Poet convert
Kasper Twardowski debuted in 1617 as the author of a 12-part poem entitled "Lekcyje Kupidynowe" (''
Cupid
In classical mythology, Cupid (Latin Cupīdō , meaning "passionate desire") is the god of desire, lust, erotic love, attraction and affection. He is often portrayed as the son of the love goddess Venus (mythology), Venus and the god of war Mar ...
's Lessons''), modelled on the Latin ''"quinqua linea amoris"'' describing five steps to love from gaze, talk, and touch, to kiss, and intimate union.
[Original text o]
''Lekcyje Kupidynowe'' by Kasper Twardowski.
Transcript by Radosław Grześkowiak. ''Staropolska On-line.'' Retrieved September 17, 2011.[ Twórcy polskiego baroku - Kasper Twardowski By TomHagen.](_blank)
''Shvoong. Sztuka i Nauki Humanistyczne.'' Retrieved September 17, 2011. The work did not survive in its published original; only in copies which, nevertheless, allow for its full reconstruction. Following publication, the poem was condemned and indexed by the ecclesiastical censorship of the Royal City of Kraków with Bishop
Marcin Szyszkowski
Marcin II Szyszkowski of Clan Ostoja (1554 – 30 April 1630)[invocation
An invocation (from the Latin verb ''invocare'' "to call on, invoke, to give") may take the form of:
*Supplication, prayer or spell.
*A form of possession.
*Command or conjuration.
*Self-identification with certain spirits.
These forms are ...](_blank)
entitled ''To the Reader'' ("Do Czytelnika") and ends with a 14-line lament ("Lament na to") over the protagonist's own ''handle'' (or trzonek in Polish) gone soft with the sight of a female chaperone. The work is composed of 12
strophe
A strophe () is a poetic term originally referring to the first part of the ode in Ancient Greek tragedy, followed by the antistrophe and epode. The term has been extended to also mean a structural division of a poem containing stanzas of varying ...
s written in
hendecasyllabic
In poetry, a hendecasyllable (sometimes hendecasyllabic) is a line of eleven syllables. The term may refer to several different poetic meters, the older of which are quantitative and used chiefly in classical (Ancient Greek and Latin) poetry, and ...
meter
The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its prefi ...
, 11 syllables per line.
:
Just as "the Cupid's Lessons" were a kind of "Ars Amandi", so was Twardowski's subsequent output as the poet-convert. In 1618 he published his other famous work called ''A boatful of young people floating to shore'' ("Łódź młodzi z nawałności do brzegu płynąca"), an
allegorical poem for the young, modelled after the "
Confessions" of
St. Augustine, describing his own return to the circle of the pious.
A new-found devotion
For the rest of his life Twardowski remained faithful to his new-found religiosity, mulling over spiritual matters in all his subsequent works. One of his most important later achievements was ''The torch of God's Love with the five arrows of fire'' ("Pochodnia Miłości Bożej z piącią strzał ognistych") published in 1628 – a fervently religious piece of considerable significance in the
genre
Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...
of Polish "metaphysical poetry" of the 16th–17th century. Twardowski's devotion grew out of
Counter Reformation, even though, his poetry did not. His aesthetics are now considered a part of Counter Reformation particularly relevant in the contexts of artistic legacy of the Jesuit ''
Societas Iesu
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders = ...
'' regardless of the fact that the poet promoted only his own personal road to salvation, and remained neutral in the matters of religious controversy, away from the typical of his own period Catholic confrontations with
Protestantism.
Later research and literary analysis
In many modern analyses (e.g., Cz. Hernasa ) all three of Twardowski’s major works including ''The Cupid's lessons'', ''A boatful of young people'', and ''The torch of God's Love'', are interpreted as the unintentional, though consistent literary trilogy, demonstrating the development of the poet through different life-stages. Often perceived as his single greatest achievement in the field of literature, they have been published together along with his life story. The first and only
monograph
A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject.
In library cataloging, ''monograph ...
about Twardowski appeared in 1939 written by Ludwik Kamykowski; while the actual poems have been re-released thanks to Radosław Grześkowiak and Krzysztof Mrówcewicz. The most important modern interpretations of the artistic legacy of Kasper Twardowski's work as part of the
Baroque period in Poland, are provided by researchers: Eugeniusz Trzaska, Ludwik Kamykowski, Ryszard Montusiewicz, Radosław Grześkowiak, Krzysztof Mrowcewicz and Adam Urbanik.
[ Historia literatury staropolskiej i oświecenia.](_blank)
''Instytut Literatury Polskiej.'' Uniwersytet Warszawski
The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields of ...
, 2010. Wyniki poszukiwan. ''Biblioteka Uniwersytetu Kardynała Stefana Wyszyńskiego.''
Warszaw, Poland.
Works by Kasper Twardowski
The most widely held works by Kasper Twardowski include:[Agnieszka Czechowicz]
"Kasper Twardowski. Between the gaze and the language"
(Kasper Twardowski: Między spojrzeniem a językiem). ''Towarzystwo Naukowe Katolickiego Uniwersytetu Lubelskiego'', Journal ''Roczniki humanistyczne'', ISSN 0035-7707, Lublin, Poland, 1949. (Revue) 1618
* ''Kolęda. Nowe lato. Szczodry dzień abo piosneczki Emmanuelowe'' (The Carol. New summer. Bountiful days or the Emmanuel songs), 1619
* ''Kolęda. Nowe lato. Szczodry dzień'' (The Carol. New summer. A bountiful Day), 1623
* ''Bicz Boży abo krwawe łzy utrapionej Matki Ojczyzny Polskiej'' (Scourge of God, or bloody tears of Polish mournful Motherland), 1625
* ''Pochodnia Miłosci Bożej z piącią strzał ognistych'' (The torch of God's Love with five arrows of fire),[ Kasper Twardowski - Pochodnia miłości bożej z piącią strzał ognistych.doc](_blank)
Original text of the poem "Torch of God's Love" in Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
*Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
. Stored at ''Chomikuj.pl''. Retrieved September 17, 2011. 1628
* ''Bij Gustawa, kto dobry. Pobudka utrapionej Ojczyzny'' (Beat Gustav, who in the right mind. Reveille mournful Homeland), 1629
* ''Bylica świętojańska'' (St. John's Artemisia),[ Kasper Twardowski, ''Bylica Swiętoianska''](_blank)
from the collections of Harvard University, Ebook and Texts' Archive. Retrieved September 17, 2011. 1630
* ''Gęś świętego Marcina'' (St. Martin's Goose), 1630
* ''Katafalk Aleksandrowi księciu Zasławskiemu'' (Catafalque for Prince Alexander Zasławski), 1630
* ''Kolebka Jezusowa. Pasterze. Trzej krolowie'' (A cradle of Jesus. Pastors. The three kings), 1630 or 1632
* ''Najjaśniejszej Konstancjej krolowej polskiej ..obchod nieodżałowanej śmierci'' (Serene Queen Constance of Poland ..celebration of much lamented death), 1631
Notes and references
{{DEFAULTSORT:Twardowski, Kasper
Polish male poets
1590s births
1640s deaths
People from Sambir
Jagiellonian University alumni