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especiallysarah's review against another edition
5.0
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.
This book is absolutely wonderful. Her poetry ranges from very funny to incredibly emotional but it is always human. I'll be returning to this book a lot, I can tell by the number of pages I turned down to remind me.
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.
This book is absolutely wonderful. Her poetry ranges from very funny to incredibly emotional but it is always human. I'll be returning to this book a lot, I can tell by the number of pages I turned down to remind me.
jolierice99's review against another edition
4.0
I read these in my English class and some of them were really good! I didn't end up reading every singe one because I didn't have the time and hate the idea of reading a bunch at once, you really have to feel it and give them the time and thought they deserve. She's a great poet and my favorite of her was Still Life With a Balloon.
lshatilla's review against another edition
Read for Lang and Lit. liked most of it.
raloveridge's review against another edition
5.0
I can tell that this is a collection to which I'll turn again and again for the rest of my life. I cannot express the joy and insight evident in Szymborska. I only discovered her in the last few months, and already she has skyrocketed to the top of my list of Writers Who Have Changed The Way I Think About The World. Read her. In fact, I think I have to quote The Princess Bride here: "Love her as I have loved her and there will be joy."
serendipitysbooks's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
4.25
Wislawa Szymborska was awarded her Nobel Prize in 1996 “for poetry that with ironic precision allows the historical and biological context to come to light in fragments of human reality”. I picked Poems New and Collected to get a good overview of her work. I was impressed by the range of topics she covered, the poems’ accessibility, and the different technical components evident in the collection - she was clearly no one trick pony. I loved the way rhythm, rhyme, alliteration and wordplay came through so kudos to the translator. I imagine translating poetry poses special challenges. I was also impressed and rather saddened by how much poems like Some People, which explores the refugee experience, and Hatred still resonate today.
versmonesprit's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
This is my first time reading Szymborska, and I’d like to point out my disappointment that this collection does not include her first 2 books. This is a shame, because I found her earlier works miles better!
Szymborska has a beautiful talent for writing cosy, warm, loving, compassionate, emotional poems about nature and animals. I think that’s where she shines the best. Her poems feel like a secure embrace, calming for the soul.
Her later works include more humorous pieces, and much darker ones too. For me, these did not excel as much. This may very well be due to the fact that these are translated, and poetry (more than any other writing) loses almost all its soul in translation. One thing that makes me doubt the credibility of the translation is that at times there are far too many rhymes to be considered coincidental. I don’t speak Polish, but I don’t think it shares as many words with English as does, say, French, which could explain these rhymes. It’s a shame I can’t read any of these as Szymborska intended, as she wrote them, but it’d be a bigger shame if changes were made to her works just for them to rhyme in English.
Szymborska is inventive in her way of looking at the world, and some of her poems strike so hard despite their delicate apparence. One of her poems, Seen from Above, made me cry, and I can’t get it out of my head. She had so much compassion, so much love for the beautiful life we’re blessed to live in. May she rest in peace.
Szymborska has a beautiful talent for writing cosy, warm, loving, compassionate, emotional poems about nature and animals. I think that’s where she shines the best. Her poems feel like a secure embrace, calming for the soul.
Her later works include more humorous pieces, and much darker ones too. For me, these did not excel as much. This may very well be due to the fact that these are translated, and poetry (more than any other writing) loses almost all its soul in translation. One thing that makes me doubt the credibility of the translation is that at times there are far too many rhymes to be considered coincidental. I don’t speak Polish, but I don’t think it shares as many words with English as does, say, French, which could explain these rhymes. It’s a shame I can’t read any of these as Szymborska intended, as she wrote them, but it’d be a bigger shame if changes were made to her works just for them to rhyme in English.
Szymborska is inventive in her way of looking at the world, and some of her poems strike so hard despite their delicate apparence. One of her poems, Seen from Above, made me cry, and I can’t get it out of my head. She had so much compassion, so much love for the beautiful life we’re blessed to live in. May she rest in peace.