Comments on: A poem by Wislawa Szymborska

By: Polish

Polish — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 21:16:02 +0000

I found your blog seraching in Google “Szymborska”. Szymborska is the Top 10 poetry in Poland.

Thanks for poeme.

By: Lu

Lu — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:12:31 +0000

Hi John,
I was rumbling around and found your site! I would appreciate any feedback you could give me with regards to “The Joy of Writing” by Szymborska. Specifically, is there a term for the way she pairs the deer/hunter imagery with the writing/author imagery? I do not claim to be a student of rhetorical style, but it seems that conceit does not quite fit here. Appreciate your comments!

jb says: I’m not going to comment, Lou. But perhaps someone else will pick up your challenge? I’ll also post the poem you refer to, maybe tomorrow.

By: azureone

azureone — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 18:45:19 +0000

Hi John,

I studied Szymborska in college and had put her out of my mind until recently when I found one of my old books.

Just today I added two of her poems to my site, Possibilities, and the Joy of Writing.

Here is a link so you can enjoy the Joy of Writing as I am sure you will.

Cheers!

http://azureone.blogspot.com/2007/10/inspiration.html

By: Mary Alice

Mary Alice — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 20:19:44 +0000

I find this a deceptively simple poem. I have used it as a model for students, parents and teachers as an entry way into poetry. Some very profound pieces have grown from the experience.

jb says: Quite beautiful as well, don’t you think, Mary Alice?

By: Ania

Ania — Sun, 06 May 2007 11:04:51 +0000

Hi!
I am Polish myself. I love Szymborska’s poetry. I have been reading it back in primary school long before she got the Nobel prize.
Her poems in Polish are extraordinary. Polish is a quite poetic language and does not translate well into English.
I only recently started to read Szymborska’s poems in English as my husband is American and I wanted to share them with him. Some translations aren’t very good, I admit. If you are interested try J.M.Trzeciak. His translations are good and very close to the originals.

jb says: Thanks for the tip, Ania. It’s so important to have good translations and often difficult to discover which are the best.

By: mathi

mathi — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 11:12:01 +0000

This is a beautiful poem of the Polish noble laureate i read sometime back in the noble prize web site. It seems her works are very difficult to translate and i keep wondering how lyrically profound she would be in her original language.

jb says: Hi Mathi. Thanks for the comment. There is always this niggling doubt with translation, isn’t there? But we can only have what we get. And in this instance, at least, I’m profoundly grateful for it.

By: Rose

Rose — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 22:48:04 +0000

I enjoy Wislawa Szymborska’ poetry. She was given the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1996 was she not?

jb says: She was, Rose.

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 07:09:22 +0000

It must be very satisfying, to know that you have written something so accessible, and which leaves the reader wanting to revisit and think about your words, as soon as they have finished reading them.

jb says: Exactly, and that is why she was given the Nobel Prize. She seems to give us surfaces, but we return and find that the surfaces mask depths. And in doing that she describes the post-modern condition, this world of ours in which we have been failed by traditional values, and in which we strive to discover new values with which to assess our condition. At the presentation ceremony in Sweden another of her poems, Discovery, was quoted:

I believe in the refusal to take part.
I believe in the ruined career.
I believe in the wasted years of work.
I believe in the secret taken to the grave.
These words soar for me beyond all rules
without seeking support from actual examples.
My faith is strong, blind, and without foundation.