Work in Literature from Antiquity to the End of the 17th Century — Selected Approaches

The purpose of the study is to capture the richness of work forms described in literature from Antiquity
to the end of the 17th century. The dominant feature is the presentation of a work image in selected
Old Polish works. Significant for the deliberations is the division verbalized by Sebastian Fabian Klonowic,
who, following the ancient authorities, defined what activities can the nobility deal with and which
of them did not belong to its state ethos.
The study was divided into three parts. The first presents selected works constituting the state of
researches on the issue. Second part presents chosen examples of descriptions and opinions about the
topic of work derived from the Bible, mythology and the Classical Literature (especially works od Hesiod,
Virgil and Horace). Third part brings closer the images of work portrayed in Polish literature of the
Renaissance and the Baroque. Especially there are works connected with a life of nobleman-landowner
(landlord), diplomat, peasant and shepherd, slave, soldier, rafter, sailor, miner, steelworker as well as
a writer. The study brings closer also chosen examples of theoretical considerations about the topic of
work by mainly Renaissance thinkers.
The topic of work is present in the Old Polish writings representing various literary forms, as well as
literary genres, were created often under the influence of the authority of the ancient literature. Writers
once show strict division of performers and activities motivated by their state affiliation, elsewhere the
cooperation of the representatives of various states in a realization of common objective. The study also
perceives the work of a slave functioning in the Osman Empire in conjunction with the position and
difficulty of the serf peasant.