De metris adnotatiuncula

De metris poesi Bohemorum convenientibus adnotatiuncula

Brief notes on the metre appropriate to Czech poesy

Origin of the work:
  1665 Amsterdam

Editions:
  1842 Prague, Časopis Čes. musea 16, p454 n.

1983 Prague, J. A. Comenii Opera omnia, vol. 4

Contents:

This is a manuscript concept document dated February 15th 1665 containing Comenius’ thoughts on Czech quantitative verse. It now forms part of the collections of the National Museum in Prague; it was originally inserted into the manuscript of Comenius’ Informatorium školy mateřské (Informatorium for kindergarten schools).

Comenius here notes that the famous Polish poet Jan Kochanowski translated Virgil into Polish, not into quantitative verse, of which Polish is incapable, but into prose. Czech, meanwhile, is in the author’s opinion an elegant language, suitable for metric poetry.

For further study, see also:

J. A. Comenii Opera omnia, vol. 4. Prague 1983, p392

Jan Kumpera, Jan Amos Komenský, poutník na rozhraní věků. Prague & Ostrava 1992, p219