ABSTRACT
In 1580, Poland's premier Renaissance poet, Jan Kochanowski, published Lyricorum libellus, a book of Latin odes that he had composed mainly during the period 1573-79. The historical background against which Kochanowski's odes are set begins with the election of Henri Valois, Duke of Anjou and brother of Charles IX, as king of Poland in April 1573. In Lyricorum libellus Kochanowski expands the Italian concept of the neo-Latin ode: a Horatian blend of Pindaric public address and the Anacreontic topoi of wine, women and song. Zofia Glombiowska has commented that Lyricorum libellus, as a cycle, leads towards a solution, with two types of action: external, outside of the 'lyric I', and internal, developing the thoughts and feelings of the hero. Kochanowski's vision of a Polish king as a leader who unifies his people, tames the barbarians and returns former glory to the nation approximates Horace's portrayal of Augustus.
