Wislawa Szymborska (1923-present)

Early LifeBorn July 2, 1923 in Bnin (now Kornik), a small town in

Western PolandMoved at age eight to Krakow in 1931, where she has

lived her entire life. Her family lived near a railway station in which she gained inspiration for later poetry.

Witnessed Nazi occupation of Poland during WWII; effect of Stalinism on Poland

Studied Polish literature and Sociology at Jagellonian University from 1945 until 1948

Jobs: poetry editor (1953-1981 at Życie Literackie (“Literary Life”)), columnist (“Non-Required Reading,” 1968-1981), secretary, office clerk, poet, illustrator

First poem she wrote debuted in 1945, “Szukam slowa” (“I am looking for a word”)

Inspired by illegal films; attended classes and the theater illegally under post-WWII Communist rule

PoliticsHer first book was published in 1949, but it initially did not pass

censors because it “did not meet socialist requirements.”Early fascination with Socialism; signs petitions and vocalizes

support for Stalin, Lenin, and socialist ideology1953: participated in the groundless persecution and

condemnation of Catholic priests by the ruling partyLike most Polish intellectuals, she quietly turns from Socialist

beliefs in 1960s; officially leaves the Polish United Workers Party in 1966

1964: participates in a protest against government ruling against The Times (larger issue: independence of intellectuals and freedom of speech)

Communists gained power; tightened cultural policy and Szymborska’s work is deemed “too complex” and “bourgeois”

1980s: labor and cultural revolution; 1981: martial law declared by ruling (but weakened) communist party; 1989: Poland’s first democratic parliamentary election

Avoids political commentary in later work, except in her human rights work. “Apolitical poems are political too.”

Later YearsShe later retracted her first two years of poetry, beginning

in 1945, and has not allowed them to be published since.Married poet Adam Wlodek in 1948, but divorced in 1954.

Later partnered with another Polish writer, but he died of prolonged illness in the early 1990s.

"For the last few years my favourite phrase has been 'I don't know'. I've reached the age of self-knowledge, so I don't know anything. People who claim that they know something are responsible for most of the fuss in the world."

Known for quick wit and sense of humor, humility, and lack of travel/public presenceNot antisocial—merely feels that public

events/exposure for writers is mostly fanfare and a waste of creative energy

Humility, Wit, or Craziness?On why she received the Nobel Prize:

"It all happened because of a friend in the States. It's all because of his sofa. Just before getting his Nobel Prize Czeslaw Milosz [1980] sat on this sofa, then Seamus Heaney [1995] sat on it and he won the prize, and then it happened that I sat on it, and then I got the prize! It's a magic sofa!"

Honors1954: City of Krakow prize for literature1963: Polish Ministry of Culture prize1991: Goethe Prize1995: Herder Prize1995: honorary doctorate Adam Mickiewiscz

University1996: PEN Club PrizeNobel Prize for literature in 1996

Has written around 200 poems and only 13 slim volumes in her career (~7-10 years per volume)—possibly the least prolific Nobel Laureate in history

Reason for sparse writing: “I have a wastebasket in my study.”

Jan. 17, 2011: Order of the White Eagle (Poland’s highest honor)

Poetic Ideas/TraitsStyle: Marked simplicity, irony, understatement,

“underlying complexity”, paradox, contradiction, introspection, wit

Not known for, but uses: anaphora, pathetic fallacy, repetition, and varying tones (satiric, mocking, inquisitive, hopeful, etc.)

“approach, not reproach”Early poetry was problematic because she tried

“to love humankind, not humans” (common mentality under Stalinism)

Expresses pessimism/skepticism about the future of mankind, but still maintains the belief that words have a powerful effect on people (“joy of imagination”)

Focus on minute details, brevity of life, death, war

Die? One does not do that to a cat.Because what's a cat to doin an empty apartment?Climb the walls.Caress against the furniture.It seems that nothing has changed here,but yet things are different.Nothing appears to have been relocated,yet everything has been shuffled about.The lamp no longer burns in the evenings.

Footsteps can be heard on the stairway,but they're not the ones.The hand which puts the fish on the platteris not the same one which used to do it.

Something here does not beginat its usual time.Something does not happen quiteas it shouldHere someone was and was,then suddenly disappearedand now is stubbornly absent.

All the closets were peered into.The shelves were walked through.The rug was lifted and examined.Even the rule about not scatteringpapers was violated.

What more is to be done?Sleep and wait.

Let him return,at least make a token appearance.Then he'll learnthat one shouldn't treat a cat like this.He will be approachedas though unwillingly,slowly,on very offended paws.With no spontaneous leaps or squeals at first.

A Cat in an Empty ApartmentWislawa Szymborska