Poetry
Lesson
By Poland
What is important to us?
In the 21st century in Poland kids don’t have
such big problems as our grandfathers and
grandmothers had. We did’nt have to fight for
our nation as they had to so for them the
country was very important. Now Polish kids
are like typical 21st century kids. Almost
everyone has got Facebook and other social
networks. Where I to describe us in one
sentence I would say that we are the citizens
of the world.
Priorytet
Why this Poem?
We chose this poem
because we thought
that it is one of the
ways we could honor
our Noble Prize
Winner Wisława
Szymborska. The
poem also says many
interesting things
about us young
Poles.
Wisława Szymborska (1923-2012)
A Polish poet. Born in Kórnik. Her father was the
steward of Count Władysław Zamoyski, a Polish patriot.
After the death of Count Zamoyski in 1924, her family
moved to Torun, and in 1931 to Cracow. When World
War II broke out in 1939, she continued her education in
underground classes. From 1943, she worked as a
railroad employee and managed to avoid being deported
to Germany as a forced labourer. After the war her
career as an artist began with illustrations for an
English-language textbook. She also began writing
stories and occasional poems. Beginning in 1945, she
began studying Polish literature before switching to
sociology at the Jagiellonian University in Cracow.
Her first book was to be published in
1949, but did not pass censorship as
it "did not meet socialist
requirements". In 1953, Szymborska
joined the staff of the literary
review magazine „Życie Literackie”
(Literary Life), where she continued
to work until 1981 and from 1968 ran
her own book review column, called
„Lektury Nadobowiązkowe”. Many of
her essays from this period were
later published in book form.
Szymborska was awarded the
1996 Nobel Prize in Literature
"for poetry that with ironic
precision allows the historical
and biological context to come
to light in fragments of human
reality". She became better
known internationally as a result
of this. Her work has been
translated into English and many
European languages. She was
described as a "Mozart of
Poetry".
The final collection published while Szymborska was
still alive, Dwukropek, was chosen as the best book of
2006. She died in Kraków in February 2012.
Szymborska wrote many books with poems: Dlatego
żyjemy ("That'sWhy We AreAlive"),1954: Pytania
zadawane sobie ("QuestioningYourself"), 1957: Wołanie
do Yeti ("Calling Out to Yeti"), 1962: Sól ("Salt"), 1967:
Sto pociech ("No End of Fun"), 1972: Wszelki wypadek
("CouldHave"), 1976: Wielka liczba ("A Large Number"),
1986: Ludzie na moście ("People on the Bridge"), 1993:
Koniec i początek ("The End and the Beginning"), 1997:
Sto wierszy – sto pociech ("100 Poems – 100
Happinesses"), 2002: Chwila (Moment), 2005:
Dwukropek (Colon) and 2012: Wystarczy
(Enough).Wisława’s work had also impact on
popculture: her poem "Nothing Twice" has been turned
into a song by composer Andrzej Munkowski, rock
singer Kora cover of "Nothing Twice" was a hit in
1994.Three Colors: Red, a film directed by Krzysztof
Kieślowski, was inspired by Szymborska's poem, "Love
At First Sight".
Prizes and awards
•
1954: The City of Cracow Prize for
Literature
•
1963: The Polish Ministry of Culture
Prize
•
1991: The Goethe Prize
•
1995: The Herder Prize
•
1995: Honorary Doctor of the Adam
Mickiewicz University (Poznan)
•
1996: The Polish PEN Club prize
•
1996: Nobel Prize in Literature
•
2011: Order of the White Eagle
Nothing twice
By Wisława Szymborka
Nothing happens twice
and it never will. For this reason,
we were born without skills
and we will die without routine.
Today, when we’re together,
I turned my face to the wall.
Rose? How does a rose look like?
Is it a flower? Or is it a rock?
Even if we were the worst students
In the school of world
We won’t repeat
Any winter, any summer
Why do you, oh evil hour
Bring the unneeded fear?
You live - so you must perish
You pass away- how charming this
is.
Any day won’t repeat
There are no similar nights,
Two the same kisses,
Two the same glances in the eyes.
Yesterday, when your name
Someone said loudly next to me
I felt like a rose had fallen
Through an open window into my
room
Delighted, caught in one’s arms
Seeking harmony
Although we differ
As two peas in a pod…
The poem „Nothing twice” is written by the polish poet
Wisława Szymborska. The narrator claims that nothing
happens twice and nothing repeats.
The narrator (in the first two stanzas is in the plural form,
in the fourth turns out to be a woman) in the question
about the rose (“Rose? What does the rose look like?”/ Is
it a flower? Or perhaps a stone?), wonders what love is
and reflects on passing away, the ability to stop time and
the necessity of dying. She confronted two different
states: before the separation and after saying goodbye to
the beloved person, comes to the painful conclusion that
it is extremely difficult to capture the nature of the most
important human emotions. Just yesterday, someone
loved her and now, a few hours later she suffers from
repudiation, betrayal or just a change of feelings (“as if
someone/ fate threw a stone at her”) Describing
yesterday's emotions of the narrator is difficult for her
(“sometime it was like if...”), does not remember what
she was feeling some time ago.
Although it is a poem about loneliness, it also gives hope
for the pleasures of tomorrow. The world isn’t predictable
or boring. It’s surprising and interesting, full of beautiful
moments that are yet to come.
The closing sentence provokes a lot of thinking. In fact,
this is contrasting two people, who are very different and
yet very the same. We share the same problems, thanks
to which we are so alike.
Please translate this
poem from English
into your language.
THANKS FOR
ATTENTION 