RENAISSANCE THEORIES OF FIGURATIVITY (II): JAKUB GORSKI

The main aim of the article is a description of the study of tropes set forth by Jakub Gorski (1525-1585) in his handbook De figuris tum grammaticis, tum rhetoricis (1560). A reconstruction of the humanist's views on the functions of eloquence identified mainly with elocution allows to account for the relationships between rhetoric and dialectic (and in broader sense also with philosophy). An analysis of two key terms in the dictionary of forms of expression (figure, trope) provides for sketching the main determinants of Gorski's idea of rhetoric as of an art of amplification and figurativity. Such an analysis is at the same time an introduction to a description of 10 tropes with their numerous types (allegory, irony). Gorski's handbook, which brings the basic pieces of information on rhetorical tropes and figures, offers a powerful image of rhetorics teaching at The Cracow Academy in the second part of the 16th century.