Name Maciej Sarbiewski Role Poet | Education Vilnius University | |
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Died April 2, 1640, Warsaw, Poland Books Jokes of fortune: selected poetry | ||
Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski (in Latin, Matthias Casimirus Sarbievius; Lithuanian: Motiejus Kazimieras Sarbievijus; Sarbiewo, Poland, 24 February 1595 – 2 April 1640, Warsaw, Poland), was Europe's most prominent Latin poet of the 17th century, and a renowned theoretician of poetics.
Life
Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski was the first Polish poet to become widely celebrated abroad [1], and the most popular Polish author before Henryk Sienkiewicz. He became known as Horationis par ("the peer of Horace"), "the Sarmatian Horace" and "the last Latin poet."
His European fame came from his first collection of poetry, Lyricorum libri tres (Three Books of Lyrics). An expanded edition, Lyricorum libri IV (Four Books of Lyrics), was so successful in Europe that it was released in 60 editions in different countries.
During a stay in Rome, Sarbiewski was crowned poeta laureatus (poet laureate) by Pope Urban VIII, who entrusted him with the task of revising the hymns of the breviary.
Sarbiewski was a Jesuit priest at Vilnius University and court preacher to Polish King Władysław IV Vasa.
Sarbiewski's poetry was extremely popular in Great Britain and was copiously translated into English. In 2008 a collected edition of English translations was published as Casimir Britannicus: English Translations, Paraphrases and Emulations of the Poetry of Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski, edited by Krzysztof Fordoński and Piotr Urbański. The collection was published again in 2010 in an expanded and corrected version.