Poems New and Collected

Book (Collection of poems), 1998 - Poems published from 1957-1997

Premise - A lifelong collection of poetry from famous Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska. The poems are presented in chronological order by collection in which they were originally published. Szymborksa's poetry covers a wide range of themes including historical events, politics, and philosophical concepts. The poems have been translated from Polish to English.

Review - I first read many of these poems back in high school, when they were assigned for my junior year English class. I still had the pages dog-eared for the poems that we were assigned to read. But I had never read the rest. That's what quarantine is for - digging up old, unread books from your bookshelf and giving them a whirl.

I've always had a little trouble reconciling the idea of translated poetry. It is its own art form - translation - for which there is much to be appreciated. However, I fully recognize that through the art of translation, much of the original artistic meaning of a poem is inevitably lost. Poetry is not just the meaning of the words - it's the sound, the rhythm, the feeling in your mouth. However these poems were originally meant to sound in Polish, and the way that sound interacts with meaning, is something I cannot know.

I do believe these translators must have put their heart and soul into capturing as much of the original artistic meaning as possible, while ALSO trying to fit to a particular rhythm and structure. Like DANG that seems hard. In reading some of these back, though, I wonder how "free verse" they are or aren't supposed to feel in the original language.

I loved a great many of these poems, particularly the ones that were more philosophical or metaphorical in nature. Many of her other poems, in contrast, have to do with historical/biblical/mythical references that were far beyond me. A true poetry fan would have done the google work to figure out what all these names, dates, and events were. I just skimmed over anything that I couldn't immediately understand, which makes me a terrible reader of poetry in this particular instance (whoops...). I just wanted to read some metaphors in beautiful words to keep my spirits up during lockdown. (91/100)

Quote - 

The joy of writing.

The power of preserving.

Revenge of a mortal hand.

GOD THAT IS SUCH A GREAT QUOTE I'M KEEPING IT FOREVER.

What to read for - The quote above is from the poem "The joy of writing" which might have been my favorite. Other great ones are "Children of Our Age" and "Nothing Twice"

If you liked this book, I'd recommend my friend's book Reborn!

Written by Wislawa Szymborska

Translated by Stanislaw Baranczak and Clare Cavanagh

Published by A Harvest Book Harcourt, Inc.