Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski

Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski (in Latin, Matthias Casimirus Sarbievius;Sarbiewo, Poland, 24 February 1595^[1] – 2 April 1640,^[1] Warsaw, Poland), was Europe's most prominent Latin poet of the 17th century, and a renowned theoretician of poetics.

Life

Poeta laureatus

Anonymous portrait

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 (Polish: Uniwersytet Wileński) 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.

See also

• List of Poles
• History of the concept of creativity

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} (Polish) Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski's biography by Mirosław Korolko in: Sarbiewski, Maciej Kazimierz (1980). Lyrica (Liryki). Warsaw: Instytut Wydawniczy "PAX". pp. VI-XIII. ISBN 83-211-0082-1. 

External links

• Works by Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski at Project Gutenberg
• Sarbiewski's Latin poems
• Bio at Catholic Encyclopedia
• International Days of Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski, SI - Academia Europea Sarbieviana
• English Translations of Sarbiewski's poetry 2008 edition

Persondata
Name	Sarbiewski, Maciej Kazimierz
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	24 February 1595
Place of birth
Date of death	2 April 1640
Place of death