Comments on: A Poem by Czeslaw Milosz

By: muffins

muffins — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:25:00 +0000

This poem sounds fantastic! Could you please tell me where can I learn more about the author?

By: Flueless

Flueless — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:37:33 +0000

Milosz was definitely a poet who spanned his century. Born in a Lithuanian-Polish province of tsarist Russia, Czeslaw Milosz died having seen the Nazi and Soviet totalitarian empires rise and fall, while his two native lands finally escaped their miserable history to end up safe and free. He wrote about it all, mostly in exile in America, in essays, novels and volumes of poems.

By: OutperformingYourself

OutperformingYourself — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:54:08 +0000

Great Poem. I’m personally a big fan of poems. This is the first time i found a poem by Czeslaw Milosz. So i’m really looking forward to see some more Poems of Czeslaw Milosz! Thank you john for posting this! This is indeed a Superb poem! I loved it!

By: Gas Fires Liverpool

Gas Fires Liverpool — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:55:23 +0000

For me, more than his poetry, his book The Captive Mind is considered one of the finest studies of the condition of intellectuals, he said that the intellectuals who became dissidents were not necessarily the ones with the strongest minds, but those with the weakest stomachs. The mind can rationalize anything, he said, but the stomach can only take so much. A very inspiring book! I recommend you read it!

By: Pearl Earrings

Pearl Earrings — Thu, 21 May 2009 19:28:44 +0000

I would say it is nice, but I read other poems by Czeslaw, and trust me if you are into poems – you need to read his other works. Some are very deep.

By: William Catling

William Catling — Tue, 05 May 2009 14:56:26 +0000

Wow definitely my favorite author/poet of all time. Glad to know other people are still aware of his works. His book The Captive Mind is said to be still used as reference material by different governments to better understand communist culture… his works will live on forever, great post jb.

Will

By: daibhid

daibhid — Sat, 02 May 2009 19:41:55 +0000

Hi there,
Actually, Milosz had most of his work translated by Robert Pinsky, and a few others he hand-picked. He was very authoritarian in his translations, and was heavily involved in the process itself. Some have described him as a ‘control freak’.
All in all, a beautiful poem. hits you in the pit of the core. What a man.

jb says: Hi Daibhid. Thanks for your comment and the info about his translators.
Yes, a wonderful poem. Keeps drawing me back.

By: Lukasz

Lukasz — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 02:42:23 +0000

Thank you for that poem in English. I was looking for it since a while. Is it your translation? Milosz was a great poet. I have studied his early works in school (compulsory), but now enjoy his later works much more – so deep and ironic to himself. I remember, I saw him ones when he gave a speech at my university. Then, I was ashamed when he died and the ‘discussion’ in the media started on whether engrave him with another important Polish poets in Skalka-church in Krakow or not. The argument of the opponents was… he was not 100% Polish, he was a communist, his work is ambiguous… Finally his grave is there and one can visit it. But what he has left us as poet, speaks for himself.

jb says: Hi Lukasz, good to hear from you, and thanks for the story around Milosz’ death. I don’t know who translated the poem.