Lyrical poetry in funeral literature of the seventeenth century Grand Duchy of Lithuania: a story of one work

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the late sixteenth – early seventeenth century, works of lyrical poetry appeared in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. One of the areas of literature that contained lyrical poetry was funeral literature, works mainly dedicated to the funerals of nobles or church elites. One of the more interesting works is Funebria (1603), written in Latin by Ioannes Kimbar. This work is dedicated to Isabella Bonarelli (1567–1602), the wife of Theodorus Lacki (1554–1610), an officer (rotmistrz) of the Grand Duchy. This article will focus on the lyrical poems that form the concluding part of Funebria, and will also explain how these lyrical poems stand out in the context of the Grand Duchy’s funeral literature of the time.