Wacław Potocki

Wacław Potocki (1621 – 1696) was a Polish Baroque poet.

Szreniawa - Potockis' coat of arms

Biography

Wacław Potocki was born in the village named Wola Łużańska near the town of Biecz in Southern Poland. He was a member of noblemen family. They were Polish Brethren, Christians of the Minor Reformed Church. He was married to Katarzyna Morsztyn. After all Polish Brethren were given order either to become Roman Catholic or to go out of Poland forever, he changed his faith. Wacław Potocki died at Łużna in 1696. He was buried in Francuscan Church in Biecz.

Works

Wacław Potocki wrote a lot. He is the author of Ogród fraszek (The Garden of Verses) that consists of more than 2 000 short poems. Another book by Potocki, named Moralia is composed of more than 2 000 pieces, too. This was based on Adagia by Erasmus of Rotterdam. He wrote many poems, sometimes in ottava rima. His best known work is an epic poem Wojna chocimska (The War of Chocim). It was compared by Claude Backvis, a Belgian scholar, to John Milton's Paradise Lost. It narrates about the great battle against the Turks. The battle was fought in 1621, when the poet was born. The poem was written fifty years after. It is in heroic couplets. Lines of the poem consist of thirteen syllables with feminine rhymes.

Other websites

• Full text of Wacław Potocki's Wojna chocimska in Polish. Archived 2016-11-15 at the Wayback Machine