question of who these ‘‘some’’ people are who
like poetry, not counting students or poets, is
approximately two people in every thousand.
Szymborska’s language in this stanza is straight-
forward, and the tone is lighthearted, despite the
irony of her admission that very few people
actually enjoy the art form through which she
is conveying these sentiments.
Stanza 2
In the next stanza, Szymborska moves away
from the almost mathematical analysis of the
first stanza, in which she quantifies the notion
of ‘‘some,’’ to a linguistic study of the way in
which something can be liked. She lists various
things that people like, leaving it to the reader to
assess the subtle differences in the way people
like a favorite scarf or a color, for example, as
opposed to a compliment or getting your way.
Other items presented in the category of things
people like are chicken noodle soup and petting
one’s dog. The list is quite varied and suggests
that the notion of liking something is more com-
plex than it appears at first blush. By itemizing
these particular things that people like, Szym-
borska, without asking a direct question, hints
that our liking of a thing, such as poetry, may be
motivated by any number of variables, such as
the tactile pleasure we derive from reading it, or
the intellectual satisfaction achieved from under-
standing it, or the emotional gratification gained
from participating in a tacit exchange with the
poet.
Stanza 3
As the poem progresses, it grows increasingly
more theoretical. In the third and final stanza,
Szymborska poses a question that is even more
philosophically bloated than the ideas presented
in the first two stanzas. She asks what poetry
actually is. This is the first time in the poem
where she directly asks a question, as well as
the first time she does not offer some inkling or
guidance to the reader about the idea she is
pondering. Rather, Szymborska acknowledges
that many have attempted to answer this diffi-
cult question in the past. Rather than striving to
do so herself, she insists that she will keep to the
path of not knowing the answer. Furthermore,
Szymborska indicates that in her experience,
there is some redemption to be found in adhering
to this path of not knowing. Her phrasing in the
final lines of the stanza suggests not only that she
does not know what poetry truly is but also that
seeking an answer to the question is a counter-
productive endeavor if one is to continue to write
poetry.THEMESThe Nature and Purpose of Poetry
Szymborska’s ‘‘Some People Like Poetry’’ is
about ideas. It suggests in particular the idea
that poetry is a creation with a design, an intent
to offer pleasure of some kind, to individuals
prepared to appreciate it. While each stanza of
the poem assesses an individual aspect of the
poem’s title, the stanzas work together to suggest
what poetry possibly means, in terms of both its
nature and its purpose, to Szymborska. Her
analyses of the ideas of ‘‘some’’ and ‘‘like’’ and
‘‘poetry’’ essentially all appear to be attempts to
pinpoint a definition or to flesh out a concrete
understanding of poetry. Yet in the last stanza,
the poet makes plain that such a precise compre-
hension is not only unnecessary but also perhaps
undesirable. The last stanza, in fact, is a refuta-
tion of the process outlined in the first two
stanzas.
This analytic process is almost scientific in
its approach. Szymborska, through the course of
the poem, comments on the title, exploring in
an apparently methodical manner how many
people actually like poetry, how people may
truly like poetry, and what exactly it is they are
liking. In the first stanza, Szymborska carefully
explores the notion of ‘‘some’’ as a quantifiable
group of people. From the group of people to
whom poetry is possibly appealing, she elimi-
nates those who are forced into the study of
poetry (students) and poets themselves, since
they obviously already appreciate poetry. The
important point here is the poet’s interest in
actual assessment. Her estimation of the number
of people who like poetry is not a vague figure, it
is an actual number: possibly two people in every
thousand. She takes equal pains with her assess-
ment of what it means to like a thing. By itemiz-
ing a number of different things that people may
like, Szymborska suggests the multiplicity in the
meaning of liking: things may be liked in a vari-
ety of ways. Liking soup is related to nourish-
ment and sensory pleasure; liking compliments is
concerned with self-worth; liking a particular
color is a somewhat random thing, whereas lik-
ing a scarf that has been in one’s possession forSome People Like Poetry