Scan barcode
Reviews
View with a Grain of Sand: Selected Poems by Stanisław Barańczak, Wisława Szymborska, Clare Cavanagh
djinn_n_juice's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed reading this collection more than the other collection listed here. This collection is smaller, but the poem order seems better to me.
She's a very unique poet. You should check her out.
She's a very unique poet. You should check her out.
cythera15's review
5.0
A stranger recommended Szymborska's work to me. But I quite got around reading her, until I found this copy on an online second-hand bookstore.
It was a great read. Really does "read as if they were written in English". I wonder how that was possible at all.
I would definitely re-read this book. I've been copying some of the poems onto my Evernote/blue notebook. I would continue to do so. I see that Dartmouth owns some other Szymborska's poetry. I am ever looking forward to reading them.
She is absolutely imaginative, very witty but with something dreadful lurking in the background. She also seems to play around with the idea of anti-existence quite frequently. And in doing so, she successfully defies the dichotomy that dominated (and still does) the 20th century.
I really wish I could read her in Polish one day.
It was a great read. Really does "read as if they were written in English". I wonder how that was possible at all.
I would definitely re-read this book. I've been copying some of the poems onto my Evernote/blue notebook. I would continue to do so. I see that Dartmouth owns some other Szymborska's poetry. I am ever looking forward to reading them.
She is absolutely imaginative, very witty but with something dreadful lurking in the background. She also seems to play around with the idea of anti-existence quite frequently. And in doing so, she successfully defies the dichotomy that dominated (and still does) the 20th century.
I really wish I could read her in Polish one day.
crowyhead's review against another edition
5.0
Szymborska won the Nobel Prize for Literature, and with good reason. These are beautiful poems, sometimes cold and epic-feeling, but more often small, warm, and true.
franfernandezarce's review against another edition
5.0
in 2017, it was the year of virginia woolf. in 2018, it was the year of marcel proust. in 2019, it will be the year of the female nobel prize laureates. hurrah!
SEPTEMBER: wisława szymborska who won in 1996 (three years after the last woman, toni morrison) for "poetry that with ironic precision allows the historical and biological context to come to light in fragments of human reality".
i must admit i have read, this year alone, an excellent selection of poetry by female authors ([b:The Dream of a Common Language|364141|The Dream of a Common Language|Adrienne Rich|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347321630l/364141._SX50_.jpg|1121835], [b:My Life|150347|My Life|Lyn Hejinian|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347956986l/150347._SX50_.jpg|1059987], [b:Native Guard|97409|Native Guard|Natasha Trethewey|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1440708117l/97409._SY75_.jpg|819024])--each different in their own way, absolutely recommendable anyway. however, i must confess: this has been my favourite of all . i would dare to say, at the beginning of september with still some months left in the year to change the game, that it might be my favourite book of 2019.
i don't usually have good experiences reading selections of poetry unless they come from my favourite authors. unlike a common poetry collection, the reasoning behind each poem's selection stems more from a commendable quality than a thematic one. this means that, in the end, there can be a severe sense of disconnection between one section to the next. this collection is no different. there isn't a single theme running through each section (although one might feel tempted to state it is whatever szymborska wanted to write about). yet, unlike other experiences, this works as a pro instead of a con.
maybe szymborska wanted to write about many things.
she excelled at everything she wanted to write about.
(excellence must also be granted to her translators)
everyday emotions are addressed right, left, and center. it is not surprising to see in her wikipedia page how one of her poems ( love at first sight ) has been adapted to several films. it just works.
SEPTEMBER: wisława szymborska who won in 1996 (three years after the last woman, toni morrison) for "poetry that with ironic precision allows the historical and biological context to come to light in fragments of human reality".
i must admit i have read, this year alone, an excellent selection of poetry by female authors ([b:The Dream of a Common Language|364141|The Dream of a Common Language|Adrienne Rich|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347321630l/364141._SX50_.jpg|1121835], [b:My Life|150347|My Life|Lyn Hejinian|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347956986l/150347._SX50_.jpg|1059987], [b:Native Guard|97409|Native Guard|Natasha Trethewey|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1440708117l/97409._SY75_.jpg|819024])--each different in their own way, absolutely recommendable anyway. however, i must confess: this has been my favourite of all . i would dare to say, at the beginning of september with still some months left in the year to change the game, that it might be my favourite book of 2019.
i don't usually have good experiences reading selections of poetry unless they come from my favourite authors. unlike a common poetry collection, the reasoning behind each poem's selection stems more from a commendable quality than a thematic one. this means that, in the end, there can be a severe sense of disconnection between one section to the next. this collection is no different. there isn't a single theme running through each section (although one might feel tempted to state it is whatever szymborska wanted to write about). yet, unlike other experiences, this works as a pro instead of a con.
maybe szymborska wanted to write about many things.
she excelled at everything she wanted to write about.
(excellence must also be granted to her translators)
everyday emotions are addressed right, left, and center. it is not surprising to see in her wikipedia page how one of her poems ( love at first sight ) has been adapted to several films. it just works.
sydneyzahradka's review against another edition
It could have happened.
It had to happen.
It happened earlier. Later.
Nearer. Farther off.
It happened, but not to you.
You were saved because you were the first.
You were saved because you were the last.
Alone. With others.
On the right. The left.
Because it was raining. Because of the shade.
Because the day was sunny.
You were in luck—there was a forest.
You were in luck—there were no trees.
You were in luck—a rake, a hook, a beam, a brake,
a jamb, a turn, a quarter inch, an instant.
You were in luck—just then a straw went floating by.
As a result, because, although, despite.
What would have happened if a hand, a foot,
within an inch, a hairsbreadth from
an unfortunate coincidence.
So you’re here? Still dizzy from another dodge, close shave, reprieve?
One hole in the net and you slipped through?
I couldn’t be more shocked or speechless.
Listen,
how your heart pounds inside me.
It had to happen.
It happened earlier. Later.
Nearer. Farther off.
It happened, but not to you.
You were saved because you were the first.
You were saved because you were the last.
Alone. With others.
On the right. The left.
Because it was raining. Because of the shade.
Because the day was sunny.
You were in luck—there was a forest.
You were in luck—there were no trees.
You were in luck—a rake, a hook, a beam, a brake,
a jamb, a turn, a quarter inch, an instant.
You were in luck—just then a straw went floating by.
As a result, because, although, despite.
What would have happened if a hand, a foot,
within an inch, a hairsbreadth from
an unfortunate coincidence.
So you’re here? Still dizzy from another dodge, close shave, reprieve?
One hole in the net and you slipped through?
I couldn’t be more shocked or speechless.
Listen,
how your heart pounds inside me.
brigittegong's review against another edition
5.0
immaculately precise & perceptive. reading this was like taking a magnifying glass to the human condition & also....looking at it all from above. at the same time. idk it was life changing
whats_margaret_reading's review against another edition
5.0
Part of my most recent poetry binge, I finally got around to reading a Nobel Prize winner who had been on my radar for a while, but I could never find her work in poetry sections of bookstores when I was looking.
It's amazing. I can't tell if the poetry is so good because of or in spite of the translation, but one way or another the poems broadly range in topic but all have an incredible and brilliant spirit.
I'll have to find more of her poetry soon.
It's amazing. I can't tell if the poetry is so good because of or in spite of the translation, but one way or another the poems broadly range in topic but all have an incredible and brilliant spirit.
I'll have to find more of her poetry soon.
wildsages's review against another edition
5.0
"there's no life
that couldn't be immortal
if only for a moment.
death
always arrives by that very moment too late.
in vain it tugs at the knob
of the invisible door.
as far as you've come
can't be undone."
that couldn't be immortal
if only for a moment.
death
always arrives by that very moment too late.
in vain it tugs at the knob
of the invisible door.
as far as you've come
can't be undone."