Poetry for Students, Volume 31

presenting ‘‘the greatest challenge to a critic’’ and
contends that this might explain ‘‘a relative
dearth of studies about her poetry.’’ Like Car-
penter, Frances Padorr Brent, in a 1998 article in
theBoston Review, maintains that Szymborska’s
poems contain a deceptive simplicity and are
often infused with irony, dark humor, and a
fair amount of pessimism. Ewa Gajer, in a 1997
article forHecate, finds that Szymborska is, in
the volume containing ‘‘Some People Like
Poetry,’’ sensitive, reflective, and often playful.
In fact, Gajer asserts, ‘‘Szymborska loves play-
ing with words.’’ The irony Gajer spots in ‘‘Some
People Like Poetry’’ is deemed ‘‘typical’’ of many
of the poet’s works. Another feature typical of
her work, suggests Edward Hirsch in his chapter
on Szymborska in his 1999 volumeResponsive
Reading, is her ‘‘gift for pursuing large, unan-
swerable questions with an offhanded charm
and nonchalance.’’ Indeed, this is just what the
poet achieves in ‘‘Some People Like Poetry.’’

Another important feature of criticism of
Szymborska’s work relates to the English trans-
lation of it. In translation, subtleties in meaning
are often lost or otherwise transformed. In

Frances Padorr Brent’s review of Szymborska’s

collectionPoems: New and Collected, 1957–1997

for theBoston Review, the critic observes that

different interpretations of ‘‘Some People Like

Poetry’’ arose from two different published

translations of the poem, that of Stanisl⁄aw Bar-

an ́czak and Clare Cavanagh, which appeared

originally in 1996 in the journalNew Republic

and later inPoems, New and Collected: 1957–

1997 , and that of Joanna Trzeciak, whose trans-

lation was published in 1996 in theNew Yorker.

Although the translations yielded English ver-

sions not terribly different in meaning, American

poets, Brent explains, centered their attention on

the ‘‘question of style and fluency’’ of the two

translations.

CRITICISM

Catherine Dominic

Dominic is a novelist and a freelance writer and

editor. In this essay, she compares the theories of

poetics and knowledge that Szymborska outlines

Pen and handwriting(Image copyright Kaspars Grinvalds, 2009. Used under license from Shutterstock.com)

Some People Like Poetry