This present collection of George Gömöri's essays covers several centuries of Polish literature and its reception abroad.  The first three essays are devoted to Jan Kochanowski, the greatest poet of the Polish Renaissance, followed by shorter pieces on Stefan Batory, King of Poland from 1576 to 1586, whom Montaigne thought to be 'one of the greatest princes of our age'.  A substantial part of the book is devoted to the Baroque period and the final essays deal with the the great precursor of modern Polish poetry, Cyprian Norwid.