The Arcadian Myth in Jan Kochanowski’s Saint John’s Eve Song About the Festive Night as a Synthesis of Cultural Heritage

Abstract

The Arcadian myth has always represented the concept of an ideal human life. This article shows that the Arcadian model unites many humanistic trends and traditions vividly manifested in idyllic writing. The Arcadia presented by Virgil, Theocritus, Sanazzaro, and Kochanowski showed a codified, universal system of values. This is clearly seen in Saint John’s Eve Song About the Festive Night. This series of poems deals with the relationship between the Arcadian space and Kochanowski’s work. This relationship significantly contributes to the myth of the common cultural heritage while showing the reinterpretation of the Arcadian vision in Old Polish literature. The topic of Arcadia relates to the locus amoenus and the relationship between classical pastoral poetics and Polish landowning culture, recorded in the native idyllic tradition. The most significant of the textual examples presented was Sobótka, which can be interpreted in various ways. In conclusion, the following discourses are included in the work: Christian, classicist, folk, pagan, and mythological which make us treat the Renaissance poet’s work as a synthesis of various humanistic ideas that guided by the University of Padua since its inception.