Latin epic poetry and its evolution as a factor of cultural identity in Central and Eastern Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Antikinė literatūra; Barokas; Epas; Epopėja; Kultūrinis identitetas; Mikalojus Husovianas; Poemos; Poetiniai žanrai; Renesansas; Skaitytojo atsako teorija; Antique literature; Baroque; Cultural Identity; Epic poetry; Epopee; Nicolaus Hussovianus; Poems; Poetic genres; Renaissance; Theory of readers-response.

ENThe article evaluates the role of the epopee genre in the literary process of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania during the Renaissance and early Baroque periods. Epopee was considered the genre par excellence in Classical poetry. In the Renaissance this genre developed mostly in Latin, and not in national languages. The genre started with the historical-dynastic epos Bellum Prutenum by loannes Visliciensis. Meanwhile, the traditions of elegiac, hagiographical and panegyric poetry, as well as the роеm hodoeporicon, continued. Л new humanistic understanding of the idea of herois perfecti (perfect hero) was formed in the literature of the region as well as in the creative work of the poets belonging to the 'German cultural space'. From the middle of the sixteenth century the role of Latin diminished in the heroic epic genre in the literature of the Polish Crown while in that of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Latin preserved its dominant position. The special place enjoyed by epic poetry in Latin in the literature of Central and Eastern European countries gave rise to a tendency to epicise poetic narration, which, in turn, influenced the formation of the poetic manner of the most prominent poets of the nineteenth century. [From the publication]