Poetry for Students, Volume 31

experiences or on a variety of philosophical
questions.

Trends in Translation
Since the end of Soviet Communist rule in Poland,
the translated works of American, English, and
other European writers have increasingly been
available to Poles in Polish. Szymborska herself is
wellrespectedinPolandasatranslatorofFrench
poetry. Similarly, post-Communist openness has
also led to a rise in the number of works of Polish
literature being translatedintoEnglishandother
European languages. With this increased exposure
comes heightened acclaim. Szymborska won the
Nobel Prize for Literature in 1996 just as her
works were first being translated into English and

into various western European languages, thereby

making her poetry accessible to a greater global

public.

CRITICAL OVERVIEW

Szymborska’s poem ‘‘Some People Like Poetry’’

has received little individual critical attention,

while her body of work as a whole has gotten

only slightly more attention, most notably fol-

lowing her 1996 winning of the Nobel Prize

for Literature. In a 1997 issue ofWorld Litera-

ture Today, Bogdana Carpenter cites the ‘‘sim-

plicity and directness’’ of Szymborska’s work as

COMPARE

&

CONTRAST

 1990s: The 1990s are the first years of

Poland’s status as a free and independent

state. In 1990 a prominent figure in Poland’s

labor movement, Lech Wal⁄e ̧sa, is elected the

first president of the Republic of Poland. He

serves five years and then in the second gen-

eral presidential election loses to Aleksander

Kwas ́niewski. President Kwas ́niewski takes

an active role in the endeavor to admit

Poland into the North Atlantic Treaty

Organization (NATO).

Today:Poland plays an increasingly signifi-

cant role on the European and world stages. It

is accepted into the European Union in 2004.

Lech Kaczyn ́ski, elected president of the

Republic of Poland in 2005, actively urges

the acceptance of the former Soviet republics

of Georgia and Ukraine into NATO.

 1990s:Women in post-Communist Poland

experience a diminishment in their personal

freedoms. The paid maternity leaves enjoyed

during the Communist years are for many

women a thing of the past, while the increas-

ing influence of the Catholic Church, which

has been allowed to flourish since the disso-

lution of Communist power, results in a

narrowing of women’s reproductive rights.

Today:Women’s rights continue to be an

issue in Poland, largely due to the conserva-

tism and influence of the Catholic Church.

Women still do not possess the same repro-

ductive choices they had under Communist

rule.

1990s:Szymborska and Czesl⁄aw Mil⁄osz

are widely regarded as Poland’s two most

prominent poets, both having won the

Nobel Prize in Literature, Mil⁄osz in 1980

and Szymborska in 1996. Contemporaries

who are also considered masters of Polish

poetry include Tadeusz Ro ́z·ewicz and Julia

Hartwig.

Today:The newest poets on the Polish liter-

ary scene are those, like Tadeusz Da,browski

and Wojciech Bonowicz, whose work reveals

a fascination with the electronic age and

technological innovation. Yet the work of

many of the new, younger poets is not treated

with the respect and attention given to that

of the older generation, who continue to

publish numerous volumes of poetry.

Some People Like Poetry