Ivan Česmički – one of the greatest poets of 15th century, bishop of Pécs humanist, author of a huge amount of elegies, poems and other works written in Latin – is known better as Janus Pannonius. His creativeness has a high significance for Croatian and Hungarian literature due to the place of his birth – Slavonia – which is historical region with a huge importance for both countries. This article aims to present several different ways of thinking about poetry: poetry as a consciousness of his own creation, as a tribute to others, as a conduct of polemics, and finally as an inspiration to create.