Classical and Neo-Latin Heritage in Jan Kochanowski’s Poetry. Reflections About a New Recent Study

Abstract

The purpose of my article is to discuss the new book on Jan Kochanowski by Jorg Schulte. The german scholar shows a wide-ranging erudition, discussing the sources of the polish poet, sometimes proposing really interesting texts, not registered by the critics yet. What is more problematic to accept, and what I discuss more deeply, is the presence, in Kochanowski’s works, of italian authors, especially Petrarca, or, sometimes, the direct relation among neo-latin poets and Kochanowski (I’m thinking about Erasm), without considering the more evident presence of texts from the ancient latin literature.