In Polish culture the term Baroque is used with regard to a variety of literary works written mostly in the seventeenth century: metaphysical poetry, memoirs of the landed gentry, the so-called Sarmatian poetry, religious poetry and epics, and burgher and plebeian literature. Many works of that period were commissioned by the great nobles who did not care about publication; thus, it became a custom to preserve the handwritten copies of literary works, and some of them were published only in the nineteenth century. The archives, however diminished by World War II, yield new discoveries even in the twenty-first century.

In Poland, the sixteenth century brought an end to the Jagiellonian dynasty and ushered in the Vasa

This article in full comprises 3615 words but only the first 150 or so words are available to non-members.

All our articles have been written recently by experts in their field, more than 95% of them university professors. To read about membership, please click here.

Published 10 October 2009

Citation: Nowicka-Struska, Anna. "Polish Baroque Literature". The Literary Encyclopedia. 10 October 2009.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=7205, accessed 21 November 2009.]