Poetry for Students, Volume 31

Szymborska in ‘‘Some People Like Poetry’’
is praising the value of questioning over answer-
ing. As readers of the poem, we are encouraged
to embrace our own sense of not-knowing,
our own sense of insecurity with not being able
to confidently answer the question, ‘‘What is
poetry?’’ Szymborska suggests in this poem the
elusive nature of truth. She gently attacks the
notion ofknowingitself, and insinuates that per-
haps ideas, ideas like that of poetry, or of liking,
can never quite thoroughly be grasped, and that
maybe one should never feel as though one does
truly understand them. Knowledge, then, would
be dead, as she observes in her Nobel speech. If
not inspiring new questions, knowledge ‘‘fails to
maintain the temperature required for sustaining
life,’’ Szymborska argues. The philosophical
idea, then, that seems to shape Szymborska’s
work, the idea that ‘‘Some People Like Poetry’’
extols, is that knowledge as an end is not nearly
as valuable as the means of questioning. As her
Nobel speech explains and as this poem illus-
trates, questions intrinsically lead to other ques-
tions rather than final answers. This sense of
yearning that characterizes much of Szymbor-
ska’s work, including and particularly ‘‘Some

People Like Poetry,’’ is both poignant and

affirming. Pinpointing this longing as her inspi-

ration may be Szymborska’s subtle way of

answering the questions she poses.

Source:Catherine Dominic, Critical Essay on ‘‘Some

People Like Poetry,’’ inPoetry for Students, Gale, Cen-

gage Learning, 2010.

Wisl⁄awa Szymborska

In the following transcript of her Nobel address,

Szymborska explores one of the themes of ‘‘Some

People Like Poetry’’—not knowing.

They say that the first sentence in any speech

is always the hardest. Well, that one’s behind me.

But I have a feeling that the sentences to come—

the third, the sixth, the tenth, and so on, up to the

final line—will be just as hard, since I’m sup-

posed to talk about poetry. I’ve said very little

on the subject—next to nothing, in fact. And

whenever I have said anything, I’ve always had

the sneaking suspicion that I’m not very good at

it. This is why my lecture will be rather short.

Imperfection is easier to tolerate if served up in

small doses.

Contemporary poets are skeptical and sus-

picious even, or perhaps especially, about

themselves. They confess to being poets only

reluctantly, as if they were a little ashamed of

it. But in our clamorous times it’s much easier

to acknowledge your faults, at least if they’re

attractively packaged, than to recognize your

merits, since these are hidden deeper and you

never quite believe in them yourself. When they

fill out questionnaires or chat with strangers—

that is, when they can’t avoid revealing their

Hand holding a handrail(ÓGorilla Photo Agency Ltd /
Alamy)

POETS, IF THEY’RE GENUINE, MUST ALSO

KEEP REPEATING ‘‘I DON’T KNOW.’’ EACH

POEM MARKS AN EFFORT TO ANSWER THIS

STATEMENT: BUT AS SOON AS THE FINAL PERIOD

HITS THE PAGE, THE POET BEGINS TO HESITATE,

STARTS TO REALIZE THAT THIS PARTICULAR

ANSWER WAS PURE MAKESHIFT, AND ABSOLUTELY

INADEQUATE TO BOOT.’’

Some People Like Poetry