View with a Grain of Sand – Wislawa Szymborska
I think that one of the greatest things to do on a blog is to find a book (or in this case, a work of poetry) read it and review it! This is going to be a pretty short and succinct review, but I wanted to try out the idea… Here goes!
I just so happened to have read a work entitled, View with a Grain of Sand by Polish poet, Wislawa Szymborska. She has published 16 collections of poetry, was the Goethe Prize winner in 1991, the Herder Prize winner in 1995 and the Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1996.
Szymborska reminds me of the observation and insight of Kay Ryan with the wit and sardonic humor of Wendy Cope; very contemporary in nature and execution. I can see the poems here as actual events in her life very easily: many first person accounts, deep outlooks on life, death, and eternity (philosophical entanglements). I was drawn to her because her insights were humorous but true at the same time and like her title implies that life’s observations should be taken with a grain of “salt”. Her images are very concrete and one can visualize things happening in the poems. The language is believable and accessible to all readers,
“With smiles and kisses, we prefer
to seek accord beneath our star
although we’re different (we concur)
just as two drops of water are.”
(View with a Grain of Sand, Szymborska, page 7).
View with a Grain of Sand contained the most exceptional blend of rhyme, rhythm, meter, iambs, and syllabics. I found that her choice of lyrical content suited all of the pieces that she placed it into. Szymborska, utilized alliteration in her poetry as well to evoke sounds from natural speech and her surroundings such as her poem, “Poetry Reading”,
“In the first row, a sweet old man’s soft snore
he dreams his wife’s alive again.What’s more
she’s making him that tart she used to bake.
Aflame, but carefully—don’t burn his cake!—
we start to read. O Muse”
(View with a Grain of Sand; Szymborska, page 26).
Such wit and humor she has, and I eat up every line.
View with a Grain of Sand.
I can read this collection of poetry over and over again, and I have already started to do just so. The stories and voice are very personal. She writes in a very matter-of-fact way, but because of her sarcasm and humor, everything is highly relatable to the reader. She starts with more observations that are closer to her own life and then branches into the greater story of life. She starts from a tiny seed of personal experiences and it grows into more ideals of life and everything between.
I connect with Szymborska’s writing because her writing feels human. They did not feel contrived by physical formality or meter or rhyme, the pieces were not all contrived from anger and a need to tell a story, but they were simply her observations of life. It is as though she speaks for many writers, including myself, from her poem “Poetry Reading” to her more insightful piece, “The Joy of Writing” which pretty much sums of the sentiments of all the writer of these collections:
“The joy of writing
The power of preserving
Revenge of a mortal hand.”
(View with a Grain of Sand; page 36).
*I personally say it’s a Must Read*
CosmopolitanMuse 