1.
Jan Kochanowski
–
Jan Kochanowski was a Polish Renaissance poet who established poetic patterns that would become integral to the Polish literary language. He is commonly regarded as the greatest Polish poet before Adam Mickiewicz, Kochanowski was born at Sycyna, near Radom, Poland. He was the brother of Andrzej Kochanowski who would also become a poet. Little is known of his early education, at fourteen, fluent in Latin, he was sent to the Kraków Academy. After graduating in 1547 at age seventeen, he attended the University of Königsberg, in Ducal Prussia, at Padua, Kochanowski came in contact with the great humanist scholar Francesco Robortello. Kochanowski closed his fifteen-year period of studies and travels with a visit to France. In 1559 Kochanowski returned to Poland for good, where he remained active as a humanist and he spent the next fifteen years close to the court of King Sigismund II Augustus, serving for a time as royal secretary. In 1574, following the decampment of Polands recently elected King Henry of Valois, in 1575 he married Dorota Podlodowska, with whom he had seven children. Kochanowski is sometimes referred to in Polish as Jan z Czarnolasu and it was there that he wrote his most memorable works, including The Dismissal of the Greek Envoys and the Laments. Kochanowski died, probably of an attack, in Lublin on 22 August 1584. Kochanowski never ceased to write in Latin, however, his achievement was the creation of Polish-language verse forms that made him a classic for his contemporaries. His first major masterpiece was Odprawa posłów greckich and this was a blank-verse tragedy that recounted an incident leading up to the Trojan War. It was the first tragedy written in Polish, and its theme of the responsibilities of statesmanship continues to resonate to this day, the play was performed at the wedding of Jan Zamoyski and Krystyna Radziwiłł at Ujazdów Castle in Warsaw on 12 January 1578. It is a series of nineteen elegies upon the death of his beloved two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Urszula and it has been translated into English in 1920 by Dorothea Prall, and in 1995 by Stanisław Barańczak and Seamus Heaney. Other well-known poems by Kochanowski are Proporzec albo hołd pruski, the satiric poem Zgoda published in 1564, and his translation of the Psalms is highly regarded. He also wrote in Latin, examples being Lyricorum libellus, Elegiarum libri quatuor and he greatly enriched Polish poetry by naturalizing foreign poetic forms, which he knew how to imbue with a national spirit. His writings were published collectively for the first time at Cracow in 1584–90, but the so-called jubilee publication, many of his poems were translated into German by H. Nitschmann. Jan Kochanowski, Laments, translated by Stanisław Barańczak and Seamus Heaney, New York, Farrar, Straus, david J. Welsh, Jan Kochanowski, New York, Twayne Publishers,1974, ISBN 0-8057-2490-7
2.
Laments (Kochanowski)
–
The Laments are a series of nineteen threnodies by Jan Kochanowski. Written in Polish and published in 1580, they are a highlight of Polish Renaissance literature, Jan Kochanowski was the greatest Polish poet and the greatest Slavic poet prior to the 19th century, when this title passed to Adam Mickiewicz. Kochanowski wrote the Laments on the occasion of the 1579 death of his daughter Urszula, little is known of Urszula, except that at her death she was two and a half years old. Her tender age has caused critics to question Kochanowskis truthfulness. The Laments are numbered among the greatest attainments of Polish poetry and their exquisite conceits and artistry made them a model to literati of the 16th and especially the 17th century. The Laments have also inspired musicians, and painters such as Jan Matejko, the venomous tongue Darts, and she must retreat on ruffled wing. You weep in vain, my friends will say, but then, What is not in vain, by God, in lives of men. All is in vain. We play at blindmans buff Until hard edges break into our path, in shedding tears or wrestling down my grief. Elegy Lament Sapphic stanza in Polish poetry Threnody Mikołaj Rej Anna Stanisławska Barry Keane, Jan Kochanowski, Threnodies, Jan Kochanowski, Laments, translated by Stanisław Barańczak and Seamus Heaney, New York, Farrar, Straus and Giroux,1995. Jan Kochanowski, Laments, translated by Michael J. Mikos, Warsaw, Jan Kochanowski, Treny, the Laments of Kochanowski, translated by Adam Czerniawski, Oxford, Legenda,2001. Michael J. Mikos, Polish Renaissance Literature, an Anthology, Review of Laments translation by Barańczak and Heaney, by Felicity Rosslyn, Cambridge Quarterly, volume 26, issue 4. Bringing a Great Poet Back to Life, review of Laments translation by Barańczak and Heaney. by Czesław Miłosz, New York Review of Books, leonard Kress on translating Treny, plus Treny 5,6 and 14 Treny. Short descriptions and translation of 1 and 8 by Adam Czerniawski Treny, the Laments of Kochanowski Review of Czerniawskis translation, by Steven Clancy, Sarmatian Review, vol. Treny – all the poems of the Treny series, tren IX and possible image of Urszula Possible image of Urszula Laments, translated by Dorothea Prall
3.
Grief
–
Grief is a multifaceted response to loss, particularly to the loss of someone or something that has died, to which a bond or affection was formed. Although conventionally focused on the response to loss, it also has physical, cognitive, behavioral, social, cultural. While the terms are used interchangeably, bereavement refers to the state of loss. Grief is a response to loss. It is the suffering one feels when something or someone the individual loves is taken away. Crying is a normal and natural part of grieving and it has also been found, however, that crying and talking about the loss is not the only healthy response and, if forced or excessive, can be harmful. Lack of crying is also a natural, healthy reaction, potentially protective of the individual, Science has found that some healthy people who are grieving do not spontaneously talk about the loss. Pressing people to cry or retell the experience of a loss can be harmful, berger identifies five ways of grieving, as exemplified by, Nomads, Nomads have not yet resolved their grief and do not seem to understand the loss that has affected their lives. Memorialists, This identity is committed to preserving the memory of the one that they have lost. Normalizers, This identity is committed to re-creating a sense of family, activists, This identity focuses on helping other people who are dealing with the same disease or with the same issues that caused their loved ones death. Seekers, This identity will adopt religious, philosophical, or spiritual beliefs to create meaning in their lives, in Bonannos book, The Other Side of Sadness, What the New Science of Bereavement Tells Us About Life After a Loss, he summarizes his research. His findings include that a natural resilience is the component of grief. The first researcher to use data, he outlined four trajectories of grief. Bonannos work has demonstrated that absence of grief or trauma symptoms is a healthy outcome, rather than something to be feared as has been the thought. Recovery, When normal functioning temporarily gives way to threshold or sub-threshold psychopathology, usually for a period of at least several months, chronic dysfunction, Prolonged suffering and inability to function, usually lasting several years or longer. Delayed grief or trauma, When adjustment seems normal but then distress, researchers have not found evidence of delayed grief, but delayed trauma appears to be a genuine phenomenon. The Kübler-Ross model, commonly known as the five stages of grief, is a theory first introduced by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in her 1969 book, On Death, kubler-Ross actually applied the stages to persons who were dying, not persons who were grieving. Her studies involved her work with the ill and it was not until much later in her career did she give into the notion that it could be applied to those grieving
4.
Music
–
Music is an art form and cultural activity whose medium is sound organized in time. The common elements of music are pitch, rhythm, dynamics, different styles or types of music may emphasize, de-emphasize or omit some of these elements. The word derives from Greek μουσική, Ancient Greek and Indian philosophers defined music as tones ordered horizontally as melodies and vertically as harmonies. Common sayings such as the harmony of the spheres and it is music to my ears point to the notion that music is often ordered and pleasant to listen to. However, 20th-century composer John Cage thought that any sound can be music, saying, for example, There is no noise, the creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of music vary according to culture and social context. There are many types of music, including music, traditional music, art music, music written for religious ceremonies. For example, it can be hard to draw the line between some early 1980s hard rock and heavy metal, within the arts, music may be classified as a performing art, a fine art or as an auditory art. People may make music as a hobby, like a teen playing cello in a youth orchestra, the word derives from Greek μουσική. According to the Online Etymological Dictionary, the music is derived from mid-13c. Musike, from Old French musique and directly from Latin musica the art of music and this is derived from the. Greek mousike of the Muses, from fem. of mousikos pertaining to the Muses, from Mousa Muse. In classical Greece, any art in which the Muses presided, Music is composed and performed for many purposes, ranging from aesthetic pleasure, religious or ceremonial purposes, or as an entertainment product for the marketplace. With the advent of recording, records of popular songs. Some music lovers create mix tapes of their songs, which serve as a self-portrait. An environment consisting solely of what is most ardently loved, amateur musicians can compose or perform music for their own pleasure, and derive their income elsewhere. Professional musicians sometimes work as freelancers or session musicians, seeking contracts and engagements in a variety of settings, There are often many links between amateur and professional musicians. Beginning amateur musicians take lessons with professional musicians, in community settings, advanced amateur musicians perform with professional musicians in a variety of ensembles such as community concert bands and community orchestras. However, there are many cases where a live performance in front of an audience is also recorded and distributed. Live concert recordings are popular in classical music and in popular music forms such as rock, where illegally taped live concerts are prized by music lovers
5.
Poetry
–
Poetry has a long history, dating back to the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh. Early poems evolved from folk songs such as the Chinese Shijing, or from a need to retell oral epics, as with the Sanskrit Vedas, Zoroastrian Gathas, and the Homeric epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey. Ancient attempts to define poetry, such as Aristotles Poetics, focused on the uses of speech in rhetoric, drama, song and comedy. Later attempts concentrated on such as repetition, verse form and rhyme. From the mid-20th century, poetry has sometimes been more generally regarded as a creative act employing language. Poetry uses forms and conventions to suggest differential interpretation to words, devices such as assonance, alliteration, onomatopoeia and rhythm are sometimes used to achieve musical or incantatory effects. The use of ambiguity, symbolism, irony and other elements of poetic diction often leaves a poem open to multiple interpretations. Similarly figures of such as metaphor, simile and metonymy create a resonance between otherwise disparate images—a layering of meanings, forming connections previously not perceived. Kindred forms of resonance may exist, between verses, in their patterns of rhyme or rhythm. Some poetry types are specific to cultures and genres and respond to characteristics of the language in which the poet writes. Much modern poetry reflects a critique of poetic tradition, playing with and testing, among other things, in todays increasingly globalized world, poets often adapt forms, styles and techniques from diverse cultures and languages. Some scholars believe that the art of poetry may predate literacy, others, however, suggest that poetry did not necessarily predate writing. The oldest surviving poem, the Epic of Gilgamesh, comes from the 3rd millennium BCE in Sumer. An example of Egyptian epic poetry is The Story of Sinuhe, other forms of poetry developed directly from folk songs. The earliest entries in the oldest extant collection of Chinese poetry, the efforts of ancient thinkers to determine what makes poetry distinctive as a form, and what distinguishes good poetry from bad, resulted in poetics—the study of the aesthetics of poetry. Some ancient societies, such as Chinas through her Shijing, developed canons of poetic works that had ritual as well as aesthetic importance, Classical thinkers employed classification as a way to define and assess the quality of poetry. Later aestheticians identified three major genres, epic poetry, lyric poetry, and dramatic poetry, treating comedy and tragedy as subgenres of dramatic poetry, Aristotles work was influential throughout the Middle East during the Islamic Golden Age, as well as in Europe during the Renaissance. English Romantic poet John Keats termed this escape from logic Negative Capability and this romantic approach views form as a key element of successful poetry because form is abstract and distinct from the underlying notional logic
6.
Regret
–
Regret is a negative conscious and emotional reaction to personal past acts and behaviors. Regret is often a feeling of sadness, shame, embarrassment, depression, annoyance, or guilt, regret is distinct from guilt, which is a deeply emotional form of regret — one which may be difficult to comprehend in an objective or conceptual way. In this regard, the concept of regret is subordinate to guilt in terms of its emotional intensity, by comparison, shame typically refers to the social aspect of guilt or regret as imposed by the society or culture, which has substantial bearing in matters of honor. It is also distinct from remorse, which is direct and emotional form of regret over a past action that is considered by society to be hurtful, shameful. Unlike regret, it includes an element of desire for apology to others rather than an internal reflection on ones actions. Regret can describe not only the dislike for an action that has been committed, many people find themselves wishing that they had done something in a past situation. There are extremely specific models of mostly in economics and finance under a new field called behavioral economics. Of these, the most clearly emotional is buyers remorse, also called buyers regret, other examples include regret aversion or more generally, regret. People who have antisocial personality disorder and dissocial personality disorder are incapable of feeling regret or remorse, meta-analysis involving what we regret most has concluded that overall, Americans regret choices regarding their education the most. Subsequent rankings then include decisions about career, romance, and parenting, education was the forerunner of regret in a number of different studies. This finding can be attributed to the opportunity principle, Opportunity principle defines peoples biggest regrets as those marked by the greatest opportunity for corrective action. When the opportunity to improve conditions is nonexistent, cognitive processes proceed to mitigate regret, with the rise of community colleges and student aid programs in recent decades, education of some sort is accessible to nearly all socioeconomic groups. Regret pushes people toward revised decision making and corrective action that often bring improvement in life circumstances, a study measured regret in accordance to negative reviews with service providers. It was concluded that regret was a predictor of who switched providers. Regret can be seen as an evolutionary development, as more intense regret is experienced, the likelihood of initiating change is increased. Consequently, the opportunity of corrective action available, the larger the regret felt. In response to the opportunity principle, the lost opportunity principle directly opposes its views, people who habitually consider future consequences experience less, rather than more, intense regret after a negative outcome. This principle offers another reason as to why education is the most regretted aspect in life, education becomes a more limited opportunity as time passes
7.
Mourning
–
Mourning is, in the simplest sense, grief over someones death. The word is used to describe a cultural complex of behaviours in which the bereaved participate or are expected to participate. Customs vary between cultures and evolve over time, though many core behaviors remain constant, wearing black clothes is one practice followed in many countries, though other forms of dress are seen. Those most affected by the loss of a loved one often observe a period of grieving, marked by withdrawal from social events and quiet, people may follow religious traditions for such occasions. Mourning may apply to the death of, or anniversary of the death of, State mourning may occur on such an occasion. In recent years, some traditions have given way to less strict practices, though many customs, in Ethiopia, an Edir is a traditional community organization whose members assist each other during the mourning process. Members make monthly financial contributions forming the Edirs fund and they are entitled to receive a certain sum of money from this fund to help cover funeral and other expenses associated with deaths. Edir members are required to stay with the family and comfort them for three full days. In Asia many people dress in different colors such as indigo, ruby-red, in India the members of the mourning family and the people who come to participate in mourning wear white clothes. The Japanese term for mourning dress is mofuku, the term refers to either primarily black Western-style formal wear or to black traditional Japanese clothing worn at funerals and Buddhist memorial services. Other colors, particularly reds and bright shades, are considered inappropriate for mourning dress, if wearing Western clothes, women may wear a single strand of white pearls. Womens mourning kimono and accessories are worn only for mourning, in Thailand people will wear black when attending a funeral. Black is considered the mourning color, the Filipino practices for mourning have influences from Chinese, Japanese and folk Catholic beliefs. People may wear white or black, the color red is frowned upon in the time of mourning, it is believed that those who wear red within 9–40 days will die or suffer illness. The consumption of chicken during the wake and funeral is believed to bring death among the relatives, there is an initial nine-day mourning practice called Pasiyam, a novena is to be prayed by those who are mourning. During those days the spirit of the deceased is believed to be roaming,40 days is a Catholic practice of commemorating the dead after 40 days from their death date. A Mass and a small feast are held to commemorate the dead during the 40-day period, when the one-year period is over, the first death anniversary will signal the end of mourning celebrated by a feast. The custom of wearing unadorned black clothing for mourning dates back at least to the Roman Empire, women in mourning and widows wore distinctive black caps and veils, generally in a conservative version of the current fashion
