The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
Note: this represents where the article stands relative to the Good Article criteria. Criteria marked are unassessed
Update on GAR following initial review: the article is very close to passing; most of the editorial comments have been addressed; images are relevant and checked; no copyvio issues according to Earwig for current iteration of the article; waiting for some additions to biography section before passing scope. Ppt91talk17:30, 31 August 2023 (UTC)Reply
Regarding spotchecks, confirmed at least three while copy editing during GAR and WP:AGF for remaining Polish sources. I also added date ranges for biography section, though please feel free to adjust accordingly. And thanks so much @Nihil novi for your additional contributions and copy editing. :-) Ppt91talk17:51, 31 August 2023 (UTC)Reply
I am very happy to review this vital Polish article. It's becoming a bit of a standard GAR disclaimer for me, and it might be because I just can't help myself when I see really interesting stuff even when my RL schedule is packed, but just a heads-up that it will likely take me more than 7 days to complete the process. I hope that's okay! Looking forward to working together. Ppt91talk00:19, 18 April 2023 (UTC)Reply
I would mention the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth at the outset; while I think that describing him as "Lithuanian" is not historically accurate, there are scholarly sources which discuss his work within the context of Lithuanian culture (one example: https://etalpykla.lituanistika.lt/object/LT-LDB-0001:J.04~2008~1367164987803/; the English abstract is poorly written and I am not impressed by the article, but I think it's important for WP:NPOV purposes)
I have added a link to the Kingdom of Poland to the lead and a mention and link to the PLC to the body. I don't think it would be correct to stress PLC in the lead. PLC did not exist until 1568; Kochanowski spent most of his life in Poland, and the estabilishment of the larger state did not really influence him. I'd say that calling him a Lithuanian poet is very undue, and even discussing him in the context of PLC is rather weird. I've skimmed through the article you linked and the author himself admits that the argument about Lithuanian connections of Kochanowski he proposes is rather novel and far fetched. It is not known how long he spent in Lithuania, which he did visit (the article notes that an estimate of few weeks to under two years would all be reasonable guesses), that a few (small minority) of his works concerned Lithuanian lands, that one of his patrons was a Lithuanian mangate, and that his works have also had some influence on the development of Lithuanian literature. I think the latter is an interesting point that I'll add to the article (done). --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here03:10, 28 August 2023 (UTC)Reply
shortly explain who Mickiewicz was, eg. "Adam Mickiewicz, a leading Romantic writer,..." Done
traveled "to" instead "in" Done
copy edit suggestion: "and eventually at the court" Done
I think the lead could be expanded, as it feels somewhat short compared to the wealth of information in the body. Done I've added a sentence from the text about "his main achievement". Feel free to suggest what else to add? PS. Please hold on this, I just realized the ref for this does not support that claim - we may have to reword or remove this: Talk:Jan_Kochanowski#"the_creation_of_Polish-language_verse_forms". PPS. Reliable ref for the claim found, re-added to the lead. I fear that may be all the time I have for today, however. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here03:20, 28 August 2023 (UTC)Reply
"He spent the next fifteen years as a courtier, though little is known about the first few years of his activities on return to Poland." this sounds a bit clunky
In re-copyediting this article yesterday, I modified the sentence to read: "He spent the next fifteen years as a courtier, though little is known about his first few years on return to Poland." (That is, I changed "the first few years" to "his first few years" and deleted "of his activities", which is a rather Polish usage and superfluous in the English context.) Nihil novi (talk) 04:59, 29 August 2023 (UTC)Reply
"serving as one of the royal secretaries" -- can we briefly say what this role entailed?
"In 1567 he accompanied the King during an episode of the Livonian War: a show of force near Radashkovichy." -- sounds really interesting, but should be discussed in more detail; what do you mean "by show of force" in this case? Was it a singular battle that was won by the King and was it of any political consequence?
From what I recall from the sources, there was no battle, it was a show of force. Wikilinked show of force which, apparently, again has an article :) There is, arguably, an article to be written that we don't have (there's an offline, I fear, and a bit old, academic source that's pretty relevant: K. Piwarski, Niedoszła wyprawa radoszkowicka Zygmunta Augusta na Moskwę (rok 1567-1568), „Ateneum Wileńskie”, t. IV, Wilno 1927, s. 256–286). I've added an interwiki link to a related military article that exists on pl and some other wikis but not yet on en. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here04:30, 29 August 2023 (UTC)Reply
"From 1571 Kochanowski spent increasing time at a family estate at Czarnolas, near Lublin." -- was Czarnolas historically important for his family and why did he choose to retire there? Ppt91talk17:50, 27 August 2023 (UTC)Reply
"Kochanowski's earliest known work may be the Polish-language Pieśń o potopie (Song of the Deluge [pl]), which some scholars think may have been composed as early as 1550." -- sounds clunky
"His first printed work, considered his first publication," -- the second seems redundant Done
"Upon his return to Poland," -- we should remind the readers the date of return to Poland Done
some names in Polish are not italicized Done
"The latter has been described as" -- could we say a few words about it, eg. "The latter, focusing on ... , has been described as" Done
"Some of his works can be seen as journalistic commentaries from an era before journalism existed," -- I think this needs to be clarified; is it seen as a social commentary or critique? I think this warrants a brief explanation on how "journalism" as a medium is understood in this context.
"expressing views of the royal court and aimed at the members of the parliament (the Sejm) and the voters." -- was he, in this commentary, a royalist who tried to persuade Sejm members? I wonder if this isn't more of a court-driven propaganda system than journalism in that case.
"They have been described as among Kochanowski's most popular writings," -- maybe just "became most popular writings" Done
Czesław Miłosz needs context; maybe "Czesław Miłosz, a preeminent 20th-century Polish poet and a winner of the 1980 Nobel Prize in Literature, ..." Done
"non-poetic political-commentary dialogue, Wróżki" -- this sounds a bit vague
"Czesław Miłosz calls it "the finest specimen of Polish humanist drama"." -- just his last name is enough here, as he was already mentioned earlier Done
prose suggestion: "Kochanowski's "Treny" (often translated into English as "Laments" from its original "Threnodies", 1580) is another of his works frequently hailed as a masterpiece. This poignant series of nineteen elegies mourns the loss of his cherished two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Urszulka, a diminutive form of "Ursula"." Done, shortened the end a bit, added an interwiki link to his daughter. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here05:26, 29 August 2023 (UTC)Reply
"As in the case of his light-hearted Fraszki, it has been described as enduringly popular and as the wellspring of a new genre in Polish literature." -- confusing syntax; prose should be improved for clarity
A more compact wording: "Like his Fraszki (Epigrams), it has been a perennially popular wellspring of a new genre in Polish literature." Nihil novi (talk) 05:56, 29 August 2023 (UTC)Reply
"Milosz writes that "Kochanowski's poetic art" -- possible to use another reference here? I think it's obviously important to include Miłosz, but it seems we're relying quite heavily on his opinions without discussing other critics; perhaps this could be a good source to add: Schulte, Jörg. "Jan Kochanowski i renesans europejski." Osiem studiów (2012). Harvard? Some of it is online but also should be easy to request scans of the most relevant chapter through a library (I can do that via NYPL)
Arguably there are many sources I have not consulted, although I think the article is reasonably comprehensive. Shulte is an edited volume collecting chapters by Kochanowski on random topics related to the book's theme (see ToC here). Considering Miłosz's prominent status, I think we are fine to cite him more than others, although there is much to add here if we wanted to go to the FA, which I don't think I will have time to do in the foreseeable future, I fear. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here05:26, 29 August 2023 (UTC)Reply
"Also highly regarded was Kochanowski's" -- by whom? Is it Polish critics/scholars?
We have an entire paragraph about this work, plus a dedicated article. Do let me know what is unclear here; the paragraph, per source cited (in Polish, offline, but I've scans) is summarized - the high regard is by his contemporaries, later readers (reprints) and translations. I've added a new ref with academic paper dediated to this and a quote about its siginificance, but they fit more in the later section. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here05:26, 29 August 2023 (UTC)Reply
"By the mid-18th century alone, it had gone through at least 25 editions" -- I would change to "By the mid-18th century, at least 25 editions of the work had been released." and separate the sentence so that the next one reads: "Set to music, David's Psalter became and enduring element of Polish Catholic masses and folklore." Done
"have been described as reflecting Italian lyricism" -- can you say more? Was this a characteristic of late Italian Renaissance poetry? I imagine this isn't related to Danto?
"a critical analysis of Slavic myths" -- maybe better to say "Slavic mythologies" Done +wikilink
prose suggestion: "In addition to being a writer, Kochanowski also translated into Polish several prominent ancient classical Greek and Roman works" and link classical Greece and Rome to "Classical antiquity" Done
"Details of Kochanowski's life are sparse and come primarily from his own writings." -- does this apply to his biography at large? In that case, I would mention it much earlier.
Tadeusz Ulewicz should be identified as "Literary historian" or something similar to indicate his academic profession Done
Prose suggestion: "Tadeusz Ulewicz [pl] notes that Kochanowski is often regarded as the most prominent Renaissance poet not only in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth but across all Slavic nations. This standing remained unchallenged until the emergence of 19th-century luminaries like Adam Mickiewicz and Juliusz Słowacki in Poland, and Alexander Pushkin in Russia." Done Please also note I've expanded this section with some other quotations/sources to reinforce the point that this is DUE and common assessment (AFAIK...). --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here05:34, 29 August 2023 (UTC)Reply
language." -- quotation should come before the period per what I think are really odd WP:MOS rules... Done
"Kochanowski never ceased writing in Latin. However, his main achievement was the creation of Polish-language verse forms that made him a classic for his contemporaries and posterity. He greatly enriched Polish poetry by naturalizing foreign poetic forms, which he knew how to imbue with a national spirit." -- the comment by Davis about the influence of Kochanowski on Polish vernacular poetry should come after this sentence Done
"Kochanowski has been the subject of a variety of artistic works – literary, musical, and visual." -- I would change to "Kochanowski's oeuvre has served as a source of inspiration for numerous literary, musical, and visual artistic works." Done
"Jan Matejko portrayed him in a painting, Kochanowski nad zwłokami Urszulki ("Kochanowski and his deceased daughter Ursula")." -- needs the date, a few words about what the work represents, and Matejko needs to be identified (eg. "Jan Matejko, the 19th-century Polish history painter, depicted Kochanowski in an 1862 painting..." Done-ish. Added date, and iwiki link to pl wiki article on this painting, which is noable. I did not add 'a few words about what the work represents' b/c the title I think is self-explanatory, picture is in the article already, and in-depth analysis should be accessible in the article dedicated to this work. Also note the addition of "a prominent", since Matejko is arguably Poland's most famous painter. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here05:55, 29 August 2023 (UTC)Reply
"Most of the recognition of his achievements has come from Polish-language artists and scholars; he has been described as little-known in English-language – and generally in non-Slavic-language – works; and, as of the early 1980s, had been passed over or given short shrift in many reference works – though, as early as 1894, Encyclopedia Britannica called him "the prince of Polish poets"." -- needs copy editing for clarity and to comply with WP:MOS
"While the 1894 Encyclopedia Britannica called Kochanowski "the Prince of Polish poets", he was long give short shrift in non-Slavic languages. The first English-language monograph devoted to him was David Welsh's, in 1974." Nihil novi (talk) 06:49, 29 August 2023 (UTC)Reply
"The first English-language monograph devoted to him was published in 1974 by David Welsh." -- where is Welsh from? Also, could his monograph be of some more use for this article?
I've added a description for Welsh (google tells me he is "Translator from Polish to English, and professor of Slavic languages and literature at the University of Michigan"). His monograph would be a good source for expansion this to FA. I have not read it at present, but I did locate it in IA: [3]. I've added the link to 'Further reading' where the work was already listed. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here05:55, 29 August 2023 (UTC)Reply
"Czesław Miłosz writes that Kochanowski's first published collection of poems was his David's Psalter (printed 1579)." -- I am not sure this is relevant to legacy
"A Jan Kochanowski Museum in Czarnolas [pl] was opened in 1961." -- I would change to "A museum dedicated to Jan Kochanowski was opened in his family's estate of Czarnolas in 1961." and I also think it would be interesting to say more about the goal of the museum at that time; it's post-Thaw Poland and Kochanowski did not seem to be as fervently promoted during Stalinism (while Mickiewicz certainly was), so I wonder if there is some more political significance to his museum being only opened under Gomulka
@Piotrus No worries. This is definitely beyond the scope of GA, but just something that made me very curious about the political background here (especially after having spent an inordinate amount of time reading about the institutionalization of culture and the process of museum formation in the late 1940s and early 1950s Stalinist Poland). I'll ping you if I find anything relevant/interesting (and vice versa)! :) Ppt91talk19:00, 29 August 2023 (UTC)Reply
@Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus I have some general, structural comments and I'd like to share them with you by you before we move forward. My first suggestion has to do with overall organization. It's by no means wrong to separate "Life" and "Work" into two sections, and I know a lot of biographies use that article structure, though in this case it feels a bit repetitive and perhaps more difficult to follow for an unfamiliar reader. What would you say to the idea of combining the two and dividing them up into periods? It could be: "Early life and education (1530–1559)", "Courtier career (1559–1571)", "Late years and death (1571–1584)"; these are just suggestions based on the chronology of his life I am familiar with, but of course each would have subsections to discuss the development of his career in the court of Sigismund-August etc. Content would stay the same, other than merging sections and removing any repetitions, but I think this kind of structure would really improve the article's overall readability. I'll leave the decision up to you, but I wanted to clarify this before moving forward. Also, I'd recommend changing "Importance" to "Influence" and "Remembrance" to "Legacy" which I think would be more in line with traditional naming conventions for artists and writers. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts. Ppt91talk19:25, 19 April 2023 (UTC)Reply
@Ppt91 I am totally fine with the headings change. Regarding the section merge, I am unsure - I see arguments both for and against it, and I think in my GAs I usually split the content like that. This is how Zygmunt Krasiński, and Bronisław Malinowski, my two latest GAs on writers, have been structured. I'd prefer to leave this one in the same style, for familiarity - although if anyone else was to restructure it, I likely would not object. Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here02:35, 20 April 2023 (UTC)Reply
@Piotrus Thanks and happy to concur with your decision. In that case, what are your thoughts on using the naming convention from Malinowski in "Biography" then divided into "Early life" and "Career"? I changed the last two sections as agreed. I'll try to have the initial batch of detailed feedback ready by the end of the weekend. Ppt91talk19:22, 21 April 2023 (UTC)Reply
@Ppt91 If you are suggesting adding the "early life" and "career" subheadings to Kochanowski, that's fine with me, but maybe "career" is a bit too modern in this context? "later life" might work, or "adulthood" or perhaps you will have a better suggestion? Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here01:32, 22 April 2023 (UTC)Reply
@Piotrus I think that works well! Sorry about my slow pace. Things have gotten even busier than I had anticipated, so I appreciate your patience. I hope to have a closer look by the end of this weekend. Ppt91talk19:05, 11 May 2023 (UTC)Reply
My apologies. I have been preoccupied with a bunch of other things in the interim and I completely dropped the ball here. I am happy to continue GAR with a committment to finish my part of review by the end of next week, although I understand if @User:Piotrus wants someone else to pick this up. Either way, I hope it will get to GA because it's an important article. Ppt91talk 00:16, 19 August 2023 (UTC) Ppt91talk00:16, 19 August 2023 (UTC)Reply
@Piotrus Happy to keep as is. I did some additional copy-editing throughout, mostly in Legacy. See if you think that works.
Before we move to final stage, I'd like to see what your thoughts are on adding more content from pl-wiki on Kochanowski? While not GA, it is quite extensive and I think some of it could be online-translated and copied with relevant attribution to bolster the English article and, most importantly, address the question of scope for GA criteria (and we can then together fix and improve any potential idiomatic issues when translating from Polish).
I see a number of apparently important aspects of his biography and legacy, including examples of other works inspired by Kochanowski's oeuvre, and think that we should do the due diligence for en-wiki article on the subject. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts. :) Ppt91talk15:27, 30 August 2023 (UTC)Reply
@Ppt91 Re Polish wiki. That article is not bad at all, thank you for noticing (I did not look at it closely until now) although it is not formally GA, but there is a lot of arguably useful referenced content (although some stuff seems rather too detailed, like the section on his verse structure). The problem is that I may not have time to expand our article quickly - it may take me a few days at minimum (and maybe weeks) to find time to do this, I'll have to go over both articles sentence by sentence, and consider whether all refs used on pl wiki are reliable. Bottom line is that I agree we can use that content and benefit from it, but I am not sure we need to do so for GA? (As I said, this article needs work - expansion - for FA, sure).
If you are interested in this topic, I'd be happy to help you translate and/or judge reliability of sources cited over the weeks and months to come after GA is finished. And if you'd prefer to fail it now, and help out to improve it and co-nom it in the future, that's fine with me too, although I think the current article is at modern GA level already (well, I hope it is, as the main author currently...). Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here03:49, 31 August 2023 (UTC)Reply
@Piotrus Thanks for your explanation; that makes sense and I do believe that the scope is sufficient for GA, so I don't have a problem passing it once we dot our i's and cross our t's. That being said, would you be opposed to adding more stuff from pl-wiki following a successful GAR? Both for the sake of editorial thoroughness and a potential future FA nomination.
I'd be happy to continue adding content, too, if this is something you're ok with. Plus, it's always nice to have a chance to work with a fellow native Polish speaker (if I recall correctly). Let me go through the final checklist for this GAR and ping you when ready. Ppt91talk14:07, 31 August 2023 (UTC)Reply
@Piotrus Just had another look at the Polish article. If possible, I'd love to add a few more details from "Życie dworskie" to ensure sufficient scope for what is a very important period in his life before passing. I think most of it is there, but I see some details that I would like to have included before passing (Jan Tarnowski, Radziwill connections, Piotr Myszkowski etc.) Everything else looks good enough for GA in my opinion. Happy to help as much as possible. Ppt91talk14:48, 31 August 2023 (UTC)Reply
Certainly I would not be opposed to improve this article further, and I'd be happy to work on it, time permitting. And I'd love to have your help here. Re specific additions, I am a bit concerned with the referenced used on pl wiki here, so some of this will need new source search. Ex. Tarnowski is sourced to Kochanowski's poem (OR), Radziwiłłs are now mentioned in the article with my c/e from yesterday and with new source found (by you, actually), Myszkowski might to be another OR footnote on pl wiki although it has a proper source as well (that I cannot verify at the moment, unfortunately). I'll see what I can do over the weekend. Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here01:02, 1 September 2023 (UTC)Reply
@Piotrus No worries! I'll try to add some content myself (while keeping in mind your comments re sources), though I trust your judgment and certainly don't want to add more work than GA requires, especially given your concerns about OR. Take your time over the weekend and I'm happy to pass as soon as you think that section is good to go. Ppt91talk20:17, 1 September 2023 (UTC)Reply
@Piotrus Just added content to the biography section based information and sources from the Polish article and expanded the lead. See if you want to make any edits. Otherwise, I think we should be good to go. I am still a bit hesitant about keeping "Views" as a separate section, but I cannot think of an alternative and, either way, it's not something that would stand in the way of a GA.
P.s. Regarding Norwid, very happy to see it's going through a review. I am not sure if this is something you will have time for now, but his reception (and exploitation) in early communist Poland is fascinating and definitely worth including at some point. Here are two sources that might be of interest: Wojtasińska, Dominika. “Recepcja Norwida w latach 1939-1956.” Studia Norwidiana 33 (2015): 275–85. https://doi.org/10.18290/sn.2015.33-14 and Dakowicz, Przemysław “Walka Ideologiczna z Norwidem i o Norwida (1944–1948).” Pamiętnik Literacki. Czasopismo kwartalne poświęcone historii i krytyce literatury polskiej 2 (2009): 5-30. Both should be relatively easy to find but also happy to send PDFs if you'd like. Ppt91talk20:07, 2 September 2023 (UTC)Reply
@Piotrus I am putting the review on hold to give you time to address my comments. Please let me know if anything is unclear or if I can be of any further help. I will try to be as responsive as my schedule allows. Looking forward to working together on this! :) Ppt91talk18:10, 27 August 2023 (UTC)Reply
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.