The article talks about three visits paid in 1609, 1611 and 1612 by prince Janusz Radziwiłł and Daniel Naborowski – one of the most eminent poets of the Polish Baroque – at the court of king James I in London. These visits were related to the wedding plans – Władysław IV Vasa, son of king Sigismund III Vasa, was supposed to marry English princess Elizabeth Stuart. In her honour Naborowski wrote a famous poem entitled "Na oczy królewny angielskiej" ("For English Princess’ Eyes"). During the second visit at the English court, 1st November 1611, Radziwiłł and Naborowski were probably watching the staging of Shakespeare’s "The Tempest" in the Banqueting House in the Palace of Whitehall. The author of the article points out a possible source of Shakespeare’s play which was a text written by a Polish humanist Marcin Kromer, widely known in Europe of those times thanks to its latin translation. Kromer’s text described a story of young prince Sigismund (the future king Sigismund III Vasa) who was born on an island in MalDrm Lake where Eric XIV of Sweden imprisoned his parents: Eric’s brother John III of Sweden and his wife Catherine Jagiellon. A Polish poet Daniel Naborowski might have seen and possibly met William Shakespeare.

This article talks about a famous novel by Leopold Tyrmand entitled Zły (The Bad) which was translated into English by David Welsh as The Man with White Eyes (New York: Knopf, 1959). The author claims that the novel which describes a life in destroyed Warsaw of the 1950s gradually became an epic. The author refers to a conception by Polish literary scholar and critic Kazimierz Wyka who claimed that epics are not written, but – under some circumstances, sometimes even against the will of the writers – some texts become epics. According to the author, in Zły (both in the style and in the plot) can be found the elements of brilliant epic stylization. The novel which at first was read as a thriller gradually became an epic because it described with epic accuracy a world that had disappeared, a world where a new life was born in the ruins.

The article presents the work of Polish poet Cyprian Kamil Norwid in the context of writers born in 1821 (Charles Baudelaire, Gustave Flaubert, Fyodor Dostoevsky). The author compares Flowers of Evil to Vade mecum of Polish poet. Such a comparision reveals the innovation of Norwid’s form, but this innovation is accompanied by traditional ideas. This traditionalism is evident as well in poet’s dramatic works. The author tries to answer the question why Norwid’s plays have never been successful on stage which is the case of Pierścień Wielkiej Damy ( A Ring of a Geat Lady). The play is very well constructed, but its ending can raise doubts concerning a psychological probability. The play’s main faults are poet’s hermetic language and a verse form: a blank verse inspired by Shakespeare and difficult to present on stage in Polish language.

The article corresponds to the 400th death annniversary of two famous European writers – Cervantes and Shakespeare – celebrated all around the world. The author tells about their lifes and takes into consideration the possiblility of their meeting together in Vailladolid. Besides, the author emphasizes on the qualities that are in common for Shakespeare’s and Cervantes’ works – among others the universality (their readers were both educated as well as simple), the ability to create symbolic figures and the application of colloquial language.