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View with a Grain of Sand: Selected Poems by Stanisław Barańczak, Wisława Szymborska, Clare Cavanagh
darwin8u's review against another edition
5.0
"Don't bear me ill will, speech, that I borrow weighty words,
then labor heavily so that they may seem light."
-- Wisława Szymborska, View With a Grain of Sand
Such a great overview of Szymorska's poetry. Once in Hungary I watched a guy ride two horses at full gallop while standing on their backs. Reading Szymorska reminds me of that. I grasp the technicals of what she is doing. I understand that nothing she writes in either style or practice actually defies the ACTUAL physics of writing, but something about her finished poems still seem magical and beyond reach. Her poems are like spiderwebs that hold up planets. Anyway, I'll put the hyperbole in my pocket now and just say I loved the book.
then labor heavily so that they may seem light."
-- Wisława Szymborska, View With a Grain of Sand
Such a great overview of Szymorska's poetry. Once in Hungary I watched a guy ride two horses at full gallop while standing on their backs. Reading Szymorska reminds me of that. I grasp the technicals of what she is doing. I understand that nothing she writes in either style or practice actually defies the ACTUAL physics of writing, but something about her finished poems still seem magical and beyond reach. Her poems are like spiderwebs that hold up planets. Anyway, I'll put the hyperbole in my pocket now and just say I loved the book.
ilonatermaat's review against another edition
5.0
Een aantal jaar geleden schreef ik een essay over Szymborska's poëzie en ik zou dat met alle liefde nu nog eens doen.
pattydsf's review against another edition
4.0
“After every war
Someone has to tidy up.
Things won’t pick
themselves up, after all.”
From The End and the Beginning
“A drop of water fell on my hand,
drawn from the Ganges and the Nile,
from hoarfrost ascended to heaven off a seal’s whiskers,
from jugs broken in the cities of Ys and Tyre.”
From Water
“Nothing can ever happen twice.
In consequence, the sorry fact is
that we arrive here improvised
and leave without the chance to practice.”
From Nothing Twice
It took me literally years to get through this book of poetry. I would pick it up, read a poem and then put it back down in my to-be-read pile. This was no reflection on the poetry; I just don’t fall into a book of poetry like I do a novel. Thanks to the Bookriot Challenge (http://bookriot.com/2014/12/15/book-riot-2015-read-harder-challenge/), I actually made time to finish this book.
I could have easily quoted from other poems. One of the joys of reading poetry and especially this book of poetry is that phrases from poems can stick in your head. They are beautiful, or say something you could not find words for, or funny or just amazing. Szymborska’s poetry does all of these things.
It is hard to recommend that people should go pick up a book of poems. Very few of us manage to read a whole book. The number of poetry books on my shelf is infinitesimal. So, I don’t suggest that you run out and get this book. What I do suggest is that you go to the web, type in Szymborska and poetry and read a couple of her poems. You won’t be sorry. She wrote beautiful poetry.
Someone has to tidy up.
Things won’t pick
themselves up, after all.”
From The End and the Beginning
“A drop of water fell on my hand,
drawn from the Ganges and the Nile,
from hoarfrost ascended to heaven off a seal’s whiskers,
from jugs broken in the cities of Ys and Tyre.”
From Water
“Nothing can ever happen twice.
In consequence, the sorry fact is
that we arrive here improvised
and leave without the chance to practice.”
From Nothing Twice
It took me literally years to get through this book of poetry. I would pick it up, read a poem and then put it back down in my to-be-read pile. This was no reflection on the poetry; I just don’t fall into a book of poetry like I do a novel. Thanks to the Bookriot Challenge (http://bookriot.com/2014/12/15/book-riot-2015-read-harder-challenge/), I actually made time to finish this book.
I could have easily quoted from other poems. One of the joys of reading poetry and especially this book of poetry is that phrases from poems can stick in your head. They are beautiful, or say something you could not find words for, or funny or just amazing. Szymborska’s poetry does all of these things.
It is hard to recommend that people should go pick up a book of poems. Very few of us manage to read a whole book. The number of poetry books on my shelf is infinitesimal. So, I don’t suggest that you run out and get this book. What I do suggest is that you go to the web, type in Szymborska and poetry and read a couple of her poems. You won’t be sorry. She wrote beautiful poetry.
satyridae's review against another edition
4.0
Any fault I find with these poems I ascribe to the vagaries of translation. I wish I could read these in the original Polish. Whatever pale echoes these might be, they are yet powerful and true. "This terrifying world is not devoid of charms..."
pagesfullofstars's review against another edition
4.0
Some of the poems were absolutely amazing and beautiful but there was quite a few underwhelming ones as well. I don't read much poetry and I don't have a means to deeply analyze it, so instead I judge it by the way the poems influenced and touched me. Overall, it's a good collection worth reading even if just for the few treasures in it.
sookieskipper's review against another edition
3.0
Quite decent collection with handpicked poems from different collection. Slightly underwhelming but still manages to pack a punch every now and then.
Few memorable lines:
--------------------------------------------
Travel Elegy
Salutation and farewell
in a single glance.
For surplus and absence alike,
a single motion of the neck
The joy of writing
The joy of writing.
The power of preserving.
Revenge of a mortal hand.
Advertisement
Sell me your soul.
There are no other takers.
There is no other devil anymore.
In Praise of Feeling Bad About Yourself
On this third planet of the sun
among the signs of bestiality
a clear conscience is Number One.
Pi
The pageant of digits comprising the number pi
doesn’t stop at the page’s edge.
-----
Few memorable lines:
--------------------------------------------
Travel Elegy
Salutation and farewell
in a single glance.
For surplus and absence alike,
a single motion of the neck
The joy of writing
The joy of writing.
The power of preserving.
Revenge of a mortal hand.
Advertisement
Sell me your soul.
There are no other takers.
There is no other devil anymore.
In Praise of Feeling Bad About Yourself
On this third planet of the sun
among the signs of bestiality
a clear conscience is Number One.
Pi
The pageant of digits comprising the number pi
doesn’t stop at the page’s edge.
-----
screamish's review against another edition
4.0
I return to these poems over and over. The book never leaves my bedside table.
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