Jan Kochanowski. Kto mi dał skrzydła. Who Hath Bewinged Me. Transl. Teresa Bałuk-Ulewicz. Literary Tradition Library no 36. Collegium Columbinum: Kraków 2000. 140 pp. PL ISSN 1428-6989, ISBN 83-87553-22-0.
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Jan Kochanowski was the most outstanding writer of the Polish Renaissance, and unquestionably also the chief Slavonic poet up to the late 18th century. If he had written in a language as widely known as Italian, English, French or German, his works would no doubt have become a major component of the European literary canon. The universal subject-matter of his Pieśni, the wit of his Fraszki, his brilliant presentation of the Trojan myth in Odprawa posłów greckich and its profound analysis of the main characters' tragic situation put Kochanowski in the European literary Parnassus. His achievement in the language and workshop of poetry makes Kochanowski a master of poetic form, a pioneer who laid down the creative paradigms for subsequent generations to follow.
