Polish writer. His work is transitional between the medieval tradition and the
Reformation; for example, a verse debate (1543) ‘between the squire, the bailiff,
and the parson’. Rej was self-educated and was an eager moralist. His poetry
collection Zwierciadlo/The Looking Glass (1568) is both a personal reflection and a
mirror of the age, and includes his best-known work, ‘Zywot czlowieka poczciwego/
The Life of an Honest Man’.