"Here Dafnis […] is buried" – an attempt of allegorical interpretation of Szymon Szymonowic’s idyll {Anniversary} Cover Image

„Tu Dafnis [...] pogrzebion” – próba alegorycznej lektury sielanki Szymona Szymonowica {Rocznica}
"Here Dafnis […] is buried" – an attempt of allegorical interpretation of Szymon Szymonowic’s idyll {Anniversary}

Author(s): Ewa Rot-Buga
Subject(s): Literary Texts, Studies of Literature
Published by: Wydział Polonistyki Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Szymon Szymonowic; sielanka; alegoria; śmierć w sielance; Jan Zamoyski; Szymon Szymonowic; pastoral; allegory; death in idyll; Jan Zamoyski

Summary/Abstract: The article is devoted to allegorical themes in Szymon Szymonowic’s {Rocznica} ({Anniversary}) in the context of the tradition of funeral idyll. {Anniversary} is a funeral idyll which contains biographical allegories and references to then current events. It commemorates Jan Zamoyski and his achievements in the field of culture. It was probably written memorialize the first anniversary of Zamoyski’s death (1606). Daphnis represents Zamoyski, whereas Thestylis - his wife Barbara, and the narrator is probably Szymonowic himself. The description of the burial is based on the framework of bucolic convention. There are other levels of the allegory, connected with the name of Daphnis as the supreme creator of poetry (Master Poet) and the sense of identifying a shepherd with a poet. Szymonowic consciously uses these and other biographical allegorical themes and intertextually refers to Vergil and Kochanowski. {Anniversary} is build according to the rules and convention of a funeral idyll as it contains many epicedial themes and levels of allegory. Thanks to the character of Dafnis-Zamoyski as well as many Polonization measures, it is strictly connected with the contemporary culture.

  • Issue Year: 2016
  • Issue No: 6 (9)
  • Page Range: 253-269
  • Page Count: 17
  • Language: Polish