Images of Crisis in the Lyric Poetry by Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski (1595–1640)

Abstract

Almost all the poetic output of Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski (1595–1640) is a response to a crisis, whether external—political or religious—or arising from his personal experience. It spans a strong commitment, a call for action (e.g. a fight against the Turks) and an attempt to achieve independence from the vagaries of Fortune.

This paper deals with the imagery used by Sarbiewski to describe crisis in selected odes and epodes of his collection Lyricorum libri IV. Epodon Liber Unus alterq[ue] Epigrammatum. One of the examples is his use of the motif of flight over the earth. From a celestial perspective, maintaining distance, the poeta-vates observes and describes the tragedy happening on the stage of the theatrum mundi. The view is so poignant, and at the same time his desire of being with God in heaven is so strong, that he prefers not to come back to earth.

Another example of imagery is the use of aquatic metaphors. The poet, for example, develops a vision of the Flood, which is a consequence of a moral crisis and at the same time a radical attempt (not necessarily successful) to solve it. Drawing inspiration from both the Bible and the works of classical authors (for instance, he likes to use the figure of the adynaton), Sarbiewski creates his own reinterpretation and actualisation of the deluge as an image of the crisis affecting civilisation and of the cataclysm destroying nature.