[1] It was widely used by Jan Kochanowski,[2] the first great Polish poet, as exemplified in the first two lines of his "Lament 13", with a formal paraphrase in English:
The Polish national epic, Pan Tadeusz by Adam Mickiewicz, is written in this measure.
Wpłynąłem na suchego przestwór oceanu, Wóz nurza się w zieloność i jak łódka brodzi, Śród fali łąk szumiących, śród kwiatów powodzi, Omijam koralowe ostrowy burzanu.
Across sea-meadows measureless I go, My wagon sinking under grass so tall The flowery petals in foam on me fall, And blossom-isles float by I do not know.
The Polish alexandrine was used by many translators (among others, Franciszek Ksawery Dmochowski) as an equivalent of ancient Greek and Roman dactylic hexameter: Achilla śpiewaj, Muzo, gniew obfity w szkody, Który ściągnął klęsk tyle na Greckie narody[6] As Polish words are longer than English ones, the 13-syllable line is good for translating English iambic pentameter.