The panegiryc with a smallpox epidemic in the background. Ignacy Szydlowski’s "Ode in Memory of Doctor Jenner, the Inventor of the Vaccine, Celebrated by the Medical Association in Vilnius on 6th May, 1820"

Abstract

The text concerns the Ode in Memory of Doctor Jenner, the Inventor of the Vaccine, Celebrated by the Medical Association in Vilnius… [pol. Oda na pamiątkę urodzin doktora Jennera, wynalazcy wakcyny, obchodzoną przez Cesarskie Towarzystwo Medyczne w Wilnie…], written in 1820 by forgotten Lithuanian poet, Ignacy Szydlowski. This poem, delivered in front of the Medical Association in Vilnius and reprinted at least fourfold, was dedicated to the memory of the English doctor and originator of vaccination against smallpox. Therefore, it belongs to the post-partition poetry devoted to works of famous personalities of the world of science. The article includes analysis and interpretation of Szydłowski’s poem in the light of Polish and European encomiastic tradition. The primary aim of this consideration is to show the real implication that panegiryc poetic have on literary image of epidemic.