„Muza polska” Wacława Potockiego jako heroicum epideiktyczne

Abstract

AGNIESZKA CZECHOWICZ John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin WACŁAW POTOCKI’S “MUZA POLSKA” (“POLISH MUSE”) AS AN EPIDEICTIC HEROICUM The article refers to Wacław Potocki’s poem Muza polska na tryjumfalny wjazd Najaśniejszego Jana III [...] (Polish Muse for a Triumphant Entering of His Majesty John III [...] ) published anonymously on the occasion of King John III Sobieski’s coronation in 1676. The piece, the content of which concentrates on the course of the 1672–1676 war waged between Poland and Turkey, is equally panegyrical and epic-historical in its character. The author of the paper focuses her attention on Potocki’s poetic creation of King John III Sobieski’s image, the most important attribute of which is temperance (Lat. temperantia) described in Plato’s Republic as an ability to abstain from lust due to which a man’s better part dominates over the worse one. The martial efforts undertaken by Sobieski and crowned with victories are depicted in Potocki’s poem not only as the example of regal virtues but also as an allegory of a war a man is waging against one’s own weakness and passions in order to gain control over oneself.