![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Their poetry concerns the rise and fall of nations civilizations and their attendant discontents and the follies and triumphs of human nature, often through the prism of religion, philosophy, and art. as kind of prophets, “unacknowledged legislators,” to quote Shelley, of the past century. Williams, and other writers have echoed such praise, solidifying the reputation of Miłosz & co. Jorie Graham, Robert Haas, Seamus Heaney, Derek Walcott, C. ![]() “Here we have world-historical seriousness! Weight! Importance!” “Miłosz, Wisława Szymborska, Adam Zagajewski, Zbigniew Herbert,” Maureen McLane wrote. For many American readers, their poems are homilies pronouncing a distinctly European but universal humanism. As writers who witnessed first-hand the horrors of history most of us merely gleaned from textbooks, they command respect in their poetry they confront the traumas of World War II and the long grayness of Soviet Communism. There are no shortage of greats: Wysława Szymborska, Zbigniew Herbert, Adam Zagajewski, and, of course, Czesław Miłosz, who, as Joseph Brodsky wrote, “is one of the greatest poets of our time, perhaps the greatest.” The Poles can tell the story of the twentieth century like no other nationality can. Postwar Polish poetry has long commanded a faithful following among American readers. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |