The Images of Children in Wacław Potocki’s Funeral Poetry

Abstract

This article presents Baroque funeral poetry devoted to the dead children. Wacław Potocki was the author of many funeral works – songs, threnody, epitaphs – referring to Greek-Roman tradition and epicedium (laudatio, lamentatio, consolatio).
After the death of his three children: Stefan, Zofia, and Jerzy he created Periody and Smutne zabawy, expressing sorrow and looking for purpose of human existence. He focused on the idea of dignitas humana and the themes of Christian eschatology. His meditative and religious poems devoted to the dead children are a result of confrontation with emptiness and emotional pain.