Epic-Panegyric Poems by Wacław Potocki. The Question of the Genre on the Basis of the Polish Muse

Abstract

The paper deals with a series of epic-panegyric poems by Wacław Potocki written in the years 1672-1676 and devoted to Jan III Sobieski. Before that he was the great crown hetman, and was introduced as a hero of the wars fought at that time against Turkey and Tartars in the Ukraine. The contents and composition of one of those poems, the Polish Muse of 1676, have been presented in detail, the poem being a summon of the hero to coronation, at the same time is a report on the war events from the recent two years. The author suggests that these works may contain a project (which had not been performed) to write a bigger epic work devoted to Sobieski. He also proposes to isolate those works as a separate genological category, such that can be seen in the literary practice of the author of the Chocim War.