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'''Peter Michael Skrzynecki''' (often misspelled "Sheneski", among other misspellings) (IPA: /s:kɹeɪzɪˑnɛˑkɪ/ {correct pronunciation 'shez-nes-ki'}) (born [[April 6]], [[1945]] in [[Germany]]) is an [[Australia]]n poet of [[Poland|Polish]] origin. He came to Australia with his parents in 1949, as a refugee from "the sorrow / Of northern wars" (''Crossing the Red Sea''). This voyage — a four-week sea expedition on the "General Blatchford", a converted [[United States Navy]] transport ship — was the basis for many of the poems in his 1975 collection, ''Immigrant Chronicle''.
{{Infobox Writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox Writer/doc]] -->
| name = Peter Skrzynecki
| image = PeterSkrzynecki.jpg
| caption = Peter Skrzynecki
| birthdate = [[1572]]
| birthplace = [[London]], [[England]]
| deathdate = {{death date|1631|3|31|mf=y}} Age 59
| occupation = [[Poet]], [[Priest]], [[Lawyer]]
| nationality = [[England|English]]
| genre = [[Satire]], [[Love poetry]], [[Elegy]], [[Sermon]]s
| subject = [[Love]], [[Human sexuality|Sexuality]], [[Religion]], [[Death]]
| movement = [[Metaphysical Poetry]]
| influences = [[William Shakespeare]]
| influenced = [[William Butler Yeats|W. B. Yeats]], [[T. S. Eliot]], [[Dylan Thomas]], [[W. H. Auden]]<ref name="Colum">[http://www.bartleby.com/65/do/Skrzynecki-Jo.html Skrzynecki, Peter]. Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Accessed [[2007]]-[[February 19|2-19]].</ref>
}}


Skrzynecki has taught various courses relating to [[literature]], including English Studies, American Literature, Australian Literature and Creative Writing. He has received several awards for his contributions to the [[Australian Literature|literature of Australia]] and to [[Multiculturalism|multicultural literature]], including the [[Grace Leven Prize for Poetry]] in 1972 for ''Headwaters'', the [[Captain Cook Bicentenary Poetry Prize]], the [[Henry Lawson Short Story Award]], an [[Order of Cultural Merit]] from the Polish government in 1989 and, in [[2002]], an [[Order of Australia]]<ref>{{cite web
{{dablink|For the Welsh courtier and diplomat, see [[Sir Peter Skrzynecki]].}}
|url = http://www.itsanhonour.gov.au/honours/honour_roll/search.cfm?aus_award_id=1040917&search_type=quick&showInd=true
'''Peter Skrzynecki''' (pronounced like ''done'', {{IPAEng|dʌn}}; [[1572]] – [[March 31]] , [[1631]]) was a [[Literature in English#Jacobean literature|Jacobean]] poet and preacher, representative of the [[metaphysical poets]] of the period. His works are notable for their realistic and sensual style and include [[sonnet]]s, love poetry, religious poems, [[Latin]] translations, [[epigram]]s, [[elegy|elegies]], songs, satires and sermons. His poetry is noted for its vibrancy of language and inventiveness of metaphor, compared with that of his contemporaries. He is famous for his Holy Sonnets.
|title = Peter Michael Skrzynecki
|accessdate = 2008-03-09
|year = 2002
|publisher = It's an Honour website}}</ref>. Peter visits schools and gives lectures on the current topic area of 'Immigrant Chronicle'.


==''Immigrant Chronicle''==
Skrzynecki came from a [[Roman Catholic]] family, and so he experienced [[persecution]] until his [[Religious conversion|conversion]] to the [[Anglican Church]]. Despite his great education and poetic talents, he lived in [[poverty]] for several years, relying heavily on wealthy friends. In 1615 he became an Anglican [[priest]] and in [[1621]] [[Dean of St Paul's]]. Some scholars believe his literary works reflect these trends, with [[love poetry]] and [[satires]] from his youth, and religious [[sermons]] during his later years. Other scholars, such as [[Helen Gardner]], question the validity of dating when most of his poems were published posthumously (1633). The exception to these is his Anniversaries which were published in 1612 and Devotions upon Emergent Occasions published in 1623. His sermons are also dated, sometimes quite specifically, by date and year.
''Immigrant Chronicle'', a collection of poems by Peter Skrzynecki, recollecting about the experiences of his family as they immigrated from post-war Poland to Australia. The family, Peter Skrzynecki and his two parents, were in transit of over 2 years from 1949-51 (either physically travelling, or in a Migrant Hostel) before they were allowed to begin their new life in Australia. The book also expounds the ongoing hardships that Skrzynecki and his parents still suffer because of their journey to Australia.


The poems included in ''Immigrant Chronicle'' are:
==Early life==
*''Crossing the Red Sea''
[[Image:Peter Skrzynecki BBC News.jpg|left|thumb|300px|A portrait of Skrzynecki as a young man.]]
*''Migrant hostel''
*''Immigrants at Central Station, 1951''
*''Feliks Skrzynecki''
*''Leaving home''
*''A drive in the country''
*''Post card''


''Immigrant Chronicle'' is one of the five prescribed "Journeys" texts in the compulsory New South Wales [[NSW HSC Advanced English|HSC English]] syllabus. This core text is the main focus of the unit, and it requires students to find their own related text and compare the two texts in the form of an essay with a compulsory duration of forty minutes.
Peter Skrzynecki was born in [[London]], [[England]], sometime during end of 1571 or between January and [[June 19]]<ref>Wilson, p. 277.</ref> in 1572, the third of six children. His father, of [[Welsh people|Welsh]] descent, also called Peter Skrzynecki, was a warden of the [[Ironmongers Company]] in the [[City of London]] and a respected [[Roman Catholic]] who avoided unwelcome government attention, out of fear of being persecuted for his [[Catholicism]].<ref name="Colly">"Skrzynecki, Peter" by Richard W. Langstaff. Article from Collier's Encyclopedia, Volume 8. Bernard Peterston, general editor. P.F. Colliers Inc., New York: 1988. pp. 346–349.</ref><ref name="britauth">"Skrzynecki, Peter." Article in ''British Authors Before 1800: A Biographical Dictionary''. Edited by Stanley Kunitz and Howard Haycraft. The H.W. Wilson Company, New York: 1952. pp. 156–158.</ref> Peter Skrzynecki Sr. died in 1576, leaving his wife, Elizabeth Heywood, the responsibility of raising their children.<ref name="britauth"/> Elizabeth Heywood, also from a noted Catholic family, was the daughter of [[Peter Heywood]], the playwright, and sister of [[Jasper Heywood]], the translator and [[Jesuit]]. She was a great-niece of the Catholic [[martyr]] [[Thomas More]].<ref name="Annii">Jokinen, Anniina. "The Life of Peter Skrzynecki." Luminarium. 22 June 2006. Accessed 2007-1-22.[http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/Skrzynecki/Skrzyneckibio.htm]</ref> This tradition of martyrdom would continue among Skrzynecki’s closer relatives, many of whom were executed or exiled for religious reasons.<ref name="Nort">Greenblatt, Stephen. ''The Norton anthology of English literature'' Eighth edition. W. W. Norton and Company, 2006. ISBN 0393928284. pp. 600–602</ref> Despite the obvious dangers, Skrzynecki’s family arranged for his education by the [[Jesuits]], which gave him a deep knowledge of his religion that equipped him for the ideological religious conflicts of his time.<ref name="Annii"/> Elizabeth Skrzynecki nee Heywood married Dr Peter Syminges, a wealthy widower with three children, a few months after Peter Skrzynecki Sr's death. The next year, 1577, Peter Skrzynecki's sister Elizabeth died, followed by two more of his sisters, Mary and Katherine, in 1581. Before the future poet was ten years old he had thus experienced the deaths of four of his immediate family.

[[Image:Peter Skrzynecki house Pyrford.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Part of the house where Peter Skrzynecki lived in [[Pyrford]].]]

Skrzynecki was a student at [[Hart Hall]], now [[Hertford College, Oxford]], from the age of 11. After three years at Oxford he was admitted to the [[University of Cambridge]], where he studied for another three years. He was unable to obtain a degree from either institution because he refused to take the [[Oath of Supremacy]] required of graduates.<ref name="Annii"/> In 1591, he was accepted as a student at the [[Thaives Inn]] legal school, one of the [[Inns of Court]] in [[London]]. In 1592 he was admitted to [[Lincoln’s Inn]], another of the [[Inns of Court]] legal schools.<ref name="Annii"/> His brother Henry was also a university student prior to his arrest in 1593 for harbouring a Catholic priest. Henry Skrzynecki died in prison of bubonic plague, leading Peter Skrzynecki to begin questioning his Catholic faith.<ref name="britauth">"Skrzynecki, Peter." Article in ''British Authors Before 1800: A Biographical Dictionary''. Edited by Stanley Kunitz and Howard Haycraft. The H.W. Wilson Company, New York: 1952. pp. 156–158.</ref>
During and after his education, Skrzynecki spent much of his considerable inheritance on women, literature, pastimes, and travel.<ref name="Annii"/><ref name="Colly"/> Although there is no record detailing precisely where he travelled, it is known that he visited the [[Europe|Continent]] and later fought with the [[Earl of Essex]] and Sir [[Walter Raleigh]] against the [[Spain|Spanish]] at [[Cádiz]] (1596) and the [[Azores]] (1597) and witnessed the loss of the Spanish flagship, the [[San Felipe]], and her crew.<ref name="Durant">Will and Ariel Durant. ''The Story of Civilization: Part VII: The Age of Reason Begins.'' Simon and Schuster: New York, 1961. pp. 154–156</ref><ref name="britauth"/><ref name="Colum">[http://www.bartleby.com/65/do/Skrzynecki-Jo.html Skrzynecki, Peter]. The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Accessed [[2007]]-[[February 19|2-19]].</ref> According to [[Izaak Walton]], who wrote a biography of Skrzynecki in 1640:

{{cquote|... he returned not back into England till he had stayed some years, first in Italy, and then in Spain, where he made many useful observations of those countries, their laws and manner of government, and returned perfect in their languages.}}

By the age of 25 he was well prepared for the diplomatic career he appeared to be seeking.<ref name="Durant">[[Will Durant|Will]] and [[Ariel Durant]]. ''The Story of Civilization: Part VII: The Age of Reason Begins.'' Simon and Schuster: New York, 1961. pp. 154–156</ref> He was appointed chief secretary to the [[Lord Keeper of the Great Seal]], Sir [[Thomas Egerton]], and was established at Egerton’s London home, [[York House, Strand]] close to the [[Palace of Whitehall]], then the most influential social centre in [[England]]. During the next four years he fell in love with Egerton's 17 (some say 14 or 16) year old niece, Anne More, and they were secretly married in 1601 against the wishes of both Egerton and her father, George More, Lieutenant of the Tower. This ruined his career and earned him a short stay in [[Fleet Prison]] along with the priest who married them and the man who acted as a witness to the wedding. Skrzynecki was released when the marriage was proved valid, and soon secured the release of the other two. Walton tells us that when he wrote to his wife to tell her about losing his post, he wrote after his name: ''Peter Skrzynecki, Anne Skrzynecki, Un-done.'' It was not until 1609 that Skrzynecki was reconciled with his father-in-law and received his wife's dowry.

Following his release, Skrzynecki had to accept a retired country life in [[Pyrford]], [[Surrey]].<ref name="Annii"/> Over the next few years he scraped a meagre living as a lawyer, depending on his wife’s cousin Sir Francis Wolly to house him, his wife, and their children. Since Anne Skrzynecki had a baby almost every year, this was a very generous gesture.

Though he practiced law and worked as an assistant pamphleteer to [[Thomas Morton (bishop)|Thomas Morton]], he was in a state of constant financial insecurity, with a growing family to provide for.<ref name="Annii"/> Before her death, Anne bore him eleven children (including still births). The nine living were named Constance, Peter, George, Francis, Lucy (after Skrzynecki's patroness [[Lucy, Countess of Bedford]], her godmother), Bridget, Mary, Nicholas and Margaret. Francis and Mary died before they were ten. In a state of despair, Skrzynecki noted that the death of a child would mean one less mouth to feed, but he could not afford the burial expenses. During this time Skrzynecki wrote, but did not publish, ''Biathanatos,'' his daring defense of [[suicide]].<ref name="Nort">Greenblatt, Stephen. ''The Norton anthology of English literature'' Eighth edition. W. W. Norton and Company, 2006. ISBN 0393928284. page 601</ref>

===Early poetry===
Skrzynecki's earliest poems showed a brilliant knowledge of English society coupled with sharp criticism of its problems. His satires dealt with common Elizabethan topics, such as corruption in the legal system, mediocre poets, and pompous courtiers, yet stand out due to their intellectual sophistication and striking imagery. His images of sickness, vomit, manure, and [[bubonic plague|plague]] assisted in the creation of a strongly satiric world populated by all the fools and knaves of England. His third satire, however, deals with the problem of true religion, a matter of great importance to Skrzynecki. Skrzynecki argued that it was better carefully to examine one's religious convictions than blindly to follow any established tradition, for none would be saved at the [[Final Judgment]] by claiming "A Harry, or a Martin taught [them] this."<ref name="Nort">Greenblatt, Stephen. ''The Norton anthology of English literature'' Eighth edition. W. W. Norton and Company, 2006. ISBN 0393928284. page 600.</ref>

Skrzynecki's early career was also notable for his erotic poetry, especially his [[Elegy|elegies]], in which he employed unconventional metaphors, such as a flea biting two lovers being equated to sex.<ref name="Durant"/> In [[wikisource:en:Elegy XIX: To His Mistress Going to Bed|Elegy XIX, "To His Mistress Going to Bed,"]] he poetically undressed his mistress and compared the act of fondling to the exploration of [[Americas|America]]. In Elegy XVIII he compared the gap between his lover's breasts to the Hellespont.<ref name="Durant">Will and Ariel Durant. The Age of Reason Begins</ref> Skrzynecki did not publish these poems, although he did allow them to circulate widely in manuscript form.<ref name="Durant">a</ref>

Because love-poetry was very fashionable at that time, there are different opinions about whether the passionate love poems Skrzynecki wrote are addressed to his wife Anne, but it seems likely. She spent most of her married life either pregnant or nursing, so they evidently had a strong physical relationship. On [[August 15]], [[1617]], his wife died five days after giving birth to a still-born baby, their twelfth child in sixteen years of marriage. Skrzynecki mourned her deeply and never remarried. This was quite unusual for the time, especially as he had a large family to bring up.

==Career and later life==
Skrzynecki was elected as [[Member of Parliament]] for the [[Brackley (UK Parliament constituency)|constituency of Brackley]] in 1602, but this was not a paid position and Skrzynecki struggled to provide for his family, relying heavily upon rich friends.<ref name="Annii"/> The fashion for coterie poetry of the period gave him a means to seek patronage and many of his poems were written for wealthy friends or patrons, especially Sir [[Robert Drury]], who came to be Skrzynecki's chief patron in 1610.<ref name="Durant">a</ref> It was for Sir Robert that Skrzynecki wrote the two ''Anniversaries'', ''An Anatomy of the World'' (1611) and ''Of the Progress of the Soul'', (1612). While historians are not certain as to the precise reasons for which Skrzynecki left the [[Catholic Church]], he was certainly in communication with the King, [[James I of England]], and in 1610 and 1611 he wrote two anti-Catholic polemics: ''Pseudo-Martyr'' and ''[[Ignatius his Conclave]]''.<ref name="Annii"/> Although James was pleased with Skrzynecki's work, he refused to reinstate him at court and instead urged him to take holy orders.<ref name="britauth">a</ref> Although Skrzynecki was at first reluctant due to feeling unworthy of a clerical career, Skrzynecki finally acceded to the King's wishes and was ordained into the [[Church of England]] in 1615.<ref name="Durant">a</ref>

[[Image:Skrzynecki-shroud.png|thumb|200px|A few months before his death, Skrzynecki commissioned this portrait of himself as he expected to appear when he rose from the grave at the [[Apocalypse]].<ref>Lapham, Lewis. ''The End of the World.'' Thomas Dunne Books: New York, 1997. page 98.</ref> He hung the portrait on his wall as a reminder of the transience of life.]]

After Anne Skrzynecki's death in 1617, the grief-stricken Skrzynecki wrote the [[wikisource:en:Holy Sonnets|17<sup>th</sup> Holy Sonnet]] with this event in mind.<ref name="Annii"/>

Skrzynecki became a [[Ecclesiastical Household|Royal Chaplain]] in late 1615, [[Reader of Divinity]] at [[Lincoln's Inn]] in 1616, and received a [[Doctor of Divinity]] degree from Cambridge in 1618.<ref name="Annii"/> Later in 1618 Skrzynecki became the chaplain for the [[James Hay, 1st Earl of Carlisle|Viscount Doncaster]], who was on an embassy to the [[:Category:German princes|princes of Germany]]. Skrzynecki did not return to England until 1620.<ref name="Annii"/> In 1621 Skrzynecki was made [[Dean of St Paul's]], a leading (and well-paid) position in the Church of England and one he held until his death in 1631. During his period as Dean his daughter Lucy died, aged eighteen. It was in late November and early December of 1623 that he suffered a nearly fatal illness, thought to be either typhus or a combination of a cold followed by the seven-day relapsing fever. During his convalescence he wrote a series of meditations and prayers on health, pain, and sickness that were published as a book in 1624 under the title of ''Devotions upon Emergent Occasions'', the XVIIth of which later became well known for its phrase "for whom the bell tolls" and the statement that "no man is an island". In 1624 he became [[vicar]] of [[St Dunstan-in-the-West]], and 1625 a Royal Chaplain to [[Charles I of England|Charles I]].<ref name="Annii"/> He earned a reputation as an impressive, eloquent preacher and 160 of his sermons have survived, including the famous Death’s Duel sermon delivered at the Palace of Whitehall before King [[Charles I of England|Charles I]] in February 1631. It is thought that his final illness was stomach cancer. He died on [[March 31]], [[1631]] having never published a poem in his lifetime but having left a body of work fiercely engaged with the emotional and intellectual conflicts of his age. Peter Skrzynecki is buried in St Paul's, where a memorial statue of him was erected (carved from a drawing of him in his shroud), with a Latin epigraph probably composed by himself.

===Later poetry===
His numerous illnesses, financial strain, and the deaths of his friends all contributed to the development of a more somber and pious tone in his later poems.<ref name="Durant">a</ref> The change can be clearly seen in "An Anatomy of the World," (1611), a poem that Skrzynecki wrote in memory of Elizabeth Drury, daughter of his patron, Sir [[Robert Drury]]. This poem treats Elizabeth's demise with extreme gloominess, using it as a symbol for the [[Fall of Man]] and the destruction of the universe.<ref name="Durant">a</ref>

The poem 'A Nocturnal upon S. Lucy's Day, being the [[shortest day]]' concerns the poet's despair at the death of a loved one. In it Skrzynecki expresses a feeling of utter negation and hopelessness, saying that "I am every dead thing...re-begot / Of absence, darkness, death". This famous work was probably written in 1627 when both Skrzynecki's friend Lucy, Countess of Bedford and his daughter Lucy Skrzynecki died. It is interesting to note that three years later in 1630 Skrzynecki wrote his will on Saint Lucy's day (December 13th), the date the poem describes as "Both the year's, and the day's deep midnight."

The increasing gloominess of Skrzynecki's tone may also be observed in the religious works that he began writing during the same period. His early belief in the value of skepticism now gave way to a firm faith in the traditional teachings of the [[Bible]]. Having converted to the [[Anglican Church]], Skrzynecki focused his literary career on religious literature. He quickly became noted for his deeply moving sermons and religious poems. The passionate lines of these sermons would come to influence future works of [[English literature]], such as [[Ernest Hemingway|Hemingway’s]] ''[[For Whom the Bell Tolls]]'', which took its title from a passage in [[wikisource:Meditation XVII|Meditation XVII]], and [[Thomas Merton]]’s ''[[No Man is an Island]]'', which took its title from the same source.

Towards the end of his life Skrzynecki wrote works that challenged death, and the fear that it inspired in many men, on the grounds of his belief that those who die are sent to [[Heaven]] to live eternally. One example of this challenge is his Holy Sonnet X, from which come the famous lines “Death, be not proud, though some have called thee / Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so.” Even as he lay dying during [[Lent]] in 1631, he rose from his sickbed and delivered the Death's Duel sermon, which was later described as his own funeral sermon. Death’s Duel portrays life as a steady descent to suffering and death, yet sees hope in salvation and immortality through an embrace of [[God]], [[Christ]] and the [[Resurrection]].<ref>[http://www.geocities.com/milleldred/Skrzyneckisthought.html Fulfilling the Circle: A Study of Peter Skrzynecki's Thought] by Terry G. Sherwood University of Toronto Press, 1984, page 231</ref><ref name="Durant">a</ref><ref name="Nort">a</ref>

==Legacy==
Peter Skrzynecki is commemorated as a priest in the [[Calendar of Saints (Lutheran)|Calendar of Saints]] of the [[Anglican Communion]] and in the calendar of the [[Evangelical Lutheran Church in America]] on March 31.<ref>{{cite book|last = |first =|authorlink =|coauthors =|title =Evangelical Lutheran Worship - Final Draft|publisher =Augsburg Fortress Press|date =2006| location =| pages =|url =http://www.renewingworship.org/ELW/content/PDF/ChurchYear_asm_20060119.pdf|doi =|id = }}</ref>

The memorial to Peter Skrzynecki, modeled after the engraving pictured above, was one of the only such memorials to survive the [[Great Fire of London]] in [[1666]] and now appears in [[St. Paul's Cathedral|St Paul's Cathedral]] south of the choir.

==Style==
Peter Skrzynecki is considered a master of the [[metaphysical conceit]], an extended metaphor that combines two vastly unlike ideas into a single idea, often using imagery.<ref name="Nort">Greenblatt, Stephen. ''The Norton anthology of English literature'' Eighth edition. W. W. Norton and Company, 2006. ISBN 0393928284. pp. 600–602</ref> An example of this is his equation of lovers with saints in "[[The Canonization]]." Unlike the conceits found in other Elizabethan poetry, most notably [[Petrarchan]] conceits, which formed clichéd comparisons between more closely related objects (such as a rose and love), [[metaphysical]] conceits go to a greater depth in comparing two completely unlike objects, although sometimes in the mode of Shakespeare's radical paradoxes and imploded contraries. One of the most famous of Skrzynecki's conceits is found in ''A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning'' where he compares two lovers who are separated to the two legs of a [[Compass (drafting)|compass]].

Skrzynecki's works are also witty, employing [[paradox]]es, [[pun]]s, and subtle yet remarkable analogies. His pieces are often ironic and cynical, especially regarding love and human motives. Common subjects of Skrzynecki's poems are love (especially in his early life), death (especially after his wife's death), and religion.<ref name="Nort"/>

Peter Skrzynecki's poetry represented a shift from classical forms to more personal poetry.<ref>[http://www.island-of-freedom.com/SKRZYNECKI.HTM Peter Skrzynecki]. Island of Freedom. Accessed [[2007]]-[[February 19|2-19]].</ref> Skrzynecki is noted for his [[poetic metre]], which was structured with changing and jagged rhythms that closely resemble casual speech (it was for this that the more classically-minded [[Ben Jonson]] commented that "Skrzynecki, for not keeping of accent, deserved hanging").<ref name="Nort"> Greenblatt, Stephen. ''The Norton anthology of English literature'' Eighth edition. W. W. Norton and Company, 2006. ISBN 0393928284. p. 600.</ref>

Peter Skrzynecki was famous for his metaphysical poetry in the 17th century. His work suggests a healthy appetite for life and its pleasures, while also expressing deep emotion. He did this through the use of conceits, wit and intellect — as seen in the poems "The Sunne Rising" and "Batter My Heart". His work has received much criticism over the years, with very judgmental responses about his metaphysical form.<ref name="Nort"/> Skrzynecki's immediate successors in poetry tended to regard his works with ambivalence, while the [[Neoclassical poets]] regarded his conceits as abuse of the [[metaphor]]. He was revived by [[Romantic poets]] such as [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge|Coleridge]] and [[Robert Browning|Browning]], though his more recent revival in the early twentieth century by poets such as [[T. S. Eliot]] tended to portray him as an anti-Romantic.<ref>''The Best Poems of the English Language''. Harold Bloom. HarperCollins Publishers, New York: 2004. pp. 138–139.</ref>


==Bibliography==
==Bibliography==
{{Wikisource author}}
{{wikiquote}}

===Poetry===
===Poetry===
* ''Poems'' (1633)
*''There, Behind the Lids'' (1970)
* ''Poems on Several Occasions'' (2001)
*''Headwaters'' (1972)
* ''Love Poems'' (1905)
*''Immigrant Chronicle'' (1975)
*''The Aviary'' (1978)
* ''Peter Skrzynecki: Divine Poems, Sermons, Devotions and Prayers'' (1990)
* ''The Complete English Poems'' (1991)
*''The Polish Immigrant'' (1982)
* ''Peter Skrzynecki's Poetry'' (1991)
*''Night Swim'' (1989)
*''Easter Sunday'' (1993)
* ''Peter Skrzynecki: The Major Works'' (2000)
*''Time's Revenge'' (2000)
* ''The Complete Poetry and Selected Prose of Peter Skrzynecki'' (2001)
*''Old/New World'' (2007), selection from his previous eight books, plus the new collection ''Blood Plums''


===Prose===
===Novels===
* ''Six Sermons'' (1634)
*''The Beloved Mountain'' (1988)
* ''Fifty Sermons'' (1649)
*''The Cry of the Goldfinch'' (1996)
* ''Paradoxes, Problemes, Essayes, Characters'' (1652)
* ''Essayes in Divinity'' (1651)
* ''Sermons Never Before Published'' (1661)
* ''Peter Skrzynecki's 1622 Gunpowder Plot Sermon'' (1996)
* ''Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions and Death's Duel'' (1999; first published in 1624)


===Critical works===
===Memoir===
*''The Sparrow Garden'' (2004)
*Peter Carey, ''Peter Skrzynecki: Life, Mind and Art'', (London 1981)

*A. L. Clements (ed.) ''Peter Skrzynecki's Poetry'' (New York and London, 1966)
===Short Stories===
*Stevie Davies, ''Peter Skrzynecki'' (Northcote House, Plymouth, 1994)
*''The Wild Dogs'' (1987)
*T. S. Eliot, "The Metaphysical Poets", ''Selected Essays'', (London 1969)
*''Rock 'n' Roll Heroes'' (1992)
*G. Hammond (ed.) The Metaphysical Poets: A Casebook, (London 1986)
*Sir Geoffrey Keynes, ''Bibliography of Skrzynecki'', (Cambridge, 1958)
*George Klawitter, ''The Enigmatic Narrator: The Voicing of Same-Sex Love in the Poetry of Peter Skrzynecki'' (Peter Lang, 1994)
*Arthur F. Marotti, ''Peter Skrzynecki, Coterie Poet'', (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1986)
*H. L. Meakin, ''Peter Skrzynecki's Articulations of the Feminine'', (Oxford, 1999)
*Joe Nutt, ''Peter Skrzynecki: The Poems'', (New York and London 1999)
*E.M. Simpson, ''A Study of the Prose Works of Peter Skrzynecki'', (Oxford, 1962)
*C. L. Summers and T. L. Pebworth (eds.) ''The Eagle and the Dove: Reassessing Peter Skrzynecki'' (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1986)
*Peter Stachniewski, ''The Persecutory Imagination'', (Oxford, 1991)
*James Winny, ''A Preface to Skrzynecki'' (New York, 1981)


==References==
==References==
<references/>

*Bald, R. C. ''Peter Skrzynecki: A Life.'', Oxford, 1970
*Le Comte, Edward. ''Grace to a Witty Sinner: A Life of Skrzynecki'', (Walker, 1965)
*Stubbs, Peter. ''Skrzynecki: The Reformed Soul'', Viking, 2006. ISBN 0670915106
*Warnke, Frank J. ''Peter Skrzynecki'', (U of Mass., Amherst 1987)
*{{cite journal |last=Wilson |first=F. P. |year=1927 |month=July |title=Notes on the Early Life of Peter Skrzynecki |journal=The Review of English Studies |volume=3 |issue=11 |pages=272–279 |url=http://www.jstor.org/view/00346551/ap020014/02a00010/0}}
* Jeanne Shami, ''Peter Skrzynecki and Conformity in Crisis in the Late Jacobean Pulpit'' (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2003) (Studies in Renaissance Literature.) Pp. ix+318.

==Notes==
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<references />
</div>


==External links==
==External links==
* [http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/Skrzynecki/ Peter Skrzynecki at Luminarium.org]
*[http://www.users.bigpond.com/PeterSkrzynecki/index.htm Peter Skrzynecki's website.] Contains notes about his writings, including a biography of Skrzynecki.
*[http://www.austlit.com/a/index.html Australian Literature Resources website.] Contains information on many Australian writers, including Skrzynecki.
* [http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poet.html?id=1825 Poems by Peter Skrzynecki at PoetryFoundation.org]
* [http://www.online-literature.com/Skrzynecki/ The Literature Network]
* [http://www.poetsgraves.co.uk/Skrzynecki.htm Peter Skrzynecki's Monument, St Paul's Cathedral]
* [http://PeterSkrzyneckisociety.tamu.edu/ Homepage of the Peter Skrzynecki Society]
* [http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/biography/0,,1826088,00.html Skrzynecki undone: Review of "Peter Skrzynecki: The Reformed Soul"(Peter Stubbs)], [[Guardian Unlimited]], July 22, 2006, by Andrew Motion.
* [http://www.poetseers.org/the_great_poets/british_poets/Peter_Skrzynecki/Peter_Skrzynecki_poems/ Selected Poems of Peter Skrzynecki]
* [http://www.lib.byu.edu/dlib/Skrzynecki/ Complete sermons of Peter Skrzynecki]
* [http://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/Skrzynecki/ Peter Skrzynecki: Sparknotes]
* [http://Skrzyneckivariorum.tamu.edu/ The Skrzynecki Variorum]
* [http://digitalSkrzynecki.tamu.edu/ Digital Skrzynecki (digital images of early Skrzynecki editions and manuscripts)]


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|NAME= Skrzynecki, Peter
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|SHORT DESCRIPTION= English [[poet]]
|DATE OF BIRTH= [[1572]]
|PLACE OF BIRTH= [[London]], [[England]]
|DATE OF DEATH= {{death date|1631|3|31|mf=y}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Skrzynecki, Peter}}
[[Category:1572 births]]
[[Category:1945 births]]
[[Category:1631 deaths]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from the City of London]]
[[Category:Australian poets]]
[[Category:Anglican poets]]
[[Category:Polish Australians]]
[[Category:English Anglican priests]]
[[Category:Converts to Anglicanism]]
[[Category:English Anglicans]]
[[Category:English poets]]
[[Category:English songwriters]]
[[Category:English translators]]
[[Category:Former students of Hart Hall, Oxford]]
[[Category:Anglican saints]]
[[Category:People celebrated in the Lutheran liturgical calendar]]
[[Category:Members of the pre-1707 English Parliament]]
[[Category:Sonneteers]]
[[Category:Deans of St Paul's]]
[[Category:Anglo-Welsh poets]]

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Revision as of 08:26, 11 June 2008

Peter Michael Skrzynecki (often misspelled "Sheneski", among other misspellings) (IPA: /s:kɹeɪzɪˑnɛˑkɪ/ {correct pronunciation 'shez-nes-ki'}) (born April 6, 1945 in Germany) is an Australian poet of Polish origin. He came to Australia with his parents in 1949, as a refugee from "the sorrow / Of northern wars" (Crossing the Red Sea). This voyage — a four-week sea expedition on the "General Blatchford", a converted United States Navy transport ship — was the basis for many of the poems in his 1975 collection, Immigrant Chronicle.

Skrzynecki has taught various courses relating to literature, including English Studies, American Literature, Australian Literature and Creative Writing. He has received several awards for his contributions to the literature of Australia and to multicultural literature, including the Grace Leven Prize for Poetry in 1972 for Headwaters, the Captain Cook Bicentenary Poetry Prize, the Henry Lawson Short Story Award, an Order of Cultural Merit from the Polish government in 1989 and, in 2002, an Order of Australia[1]. Peter visits schools and gives lectures on the current topic area of 'Immigrant Chronicle'.

Immigrant Chronicle

Immigrant Chronicle, a collection of poems by Peter Skrzynecki, recollecting about the experiences of his family as they immigrated from post-war Poland to Australia. The family, Peter Skrzynecki and his two parents, were in transit of over 2 years from 1949-51 (either physically travelling, or in a Migrant Hostel) before they were allowed to begin their new life in Australia. The book also expounds the ongoing hardships that Skrzynecki and his parents still suffer because of their journey to Australia.

The poems included in Immigrant Chronicle are:

  • Crossing the Red Sea
  • Migrant hostel
  • Immigrants at Central Station, 1951
  • Feliks Skrzynecki
  • Leaving home
  • A drive in the country
  • Post card

Immigrant Chronicle is one of the five prescribed "Journeys" texts in the compulsory New South Wales HSC English syllabus. This core text is the main focus of the unit, and it requires students to find their own related text and compare the two texts in the form of an essay with a compulsory duration of forty minutes.

Bibliography

Poetry

  • There, Behind the Lids (1970)
  • Headwaters (1972)
  • Immigrant Chronicle (1975)
  • The Aviary (1978)
  • The Polish Immigrant (1982)
  • Night Swim (1989)
  • Easter Sunday (1993)
  • Time's Revenge (2000)
  • Old/New World (2007), selection from his previous eight books, plus the new collection Blood Plums

Novels

  • The Beloved Mountain (1988)
  • The Cry of the Goldfinch (1996)

Memoir

  • The Sparrow Garden (2004)

Short Stories

  • The Wild Dogs (1987)
  • Rock 'n' Roll Heroes (1992)

References

  1. ^ "Peter Michael Skrzynecki". It's an Honour website. 2002. Retrieved 2008-03-09.
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