Ariadne's Thread: Polish Women Poets

by Susan Bassnett, Piotr Kuhiwczak, Kazimiera Iłłakowiczówna

An English poet, in collaboration with a Polish writer, selected works from eight of Poland's finest contemporary women poets: Kazimiera Iłłakowiczówna, Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska, Anna Świrszczyńska, Anna Kamieńska, Wisława Szymborska, Urszula Kozioł, Halina Poświatowska, Ewa Lipska.

Genres: Poetry

78 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Susan Bassnett is Professor of Comparative Literature in the Centre for Translation and Comparative Cultural Studies at the University of Warwick.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_B...

Reviews

[Carey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sealey Challenge 2024: 18/31

I stumbled upon this collection quite randomly at a used bookstore and simultaneously realized how little Polish literature I've read and how little translated poetry in general I've reached for. This was an anthology meant to highlight the best of Polish poetry - or well, the best up to the 1980s when this was published. In the introduction, both translators say that originally it was supposed to be an anthology of the best Polish poets in general, yet they were quite shocked to realize the best poems they were reading were in fact from women! Thus, this poetry anthology took on a new title and a new mission: to spotlight the best Polish women poets - many of whom were criminally underrated.

The background to this collection and the notes on translation were an excellent context to enter the poems with the right frame of mind about how and why these poets and their poems were gathered. While all poems were translated by the same translators, there is still a variety in prose and poem styles. The voices of each poet still felt distinct and their poems delineated from one another. I also really loved the inclusion of the biography of each poet and their photos before starting each new poet's section. This collection felt very welcoming and like it was really celebrating these poets. The poems themselves were strong and covered similar themes of seeking to understand the purpose of life, resilience in the face of great pain and tragedy, aging through womanhood, and the legacies of history. Some poems resonated more with me than others, yet I can't say there were any poems that I hated or even strongly disliked. There were just some that I felt I didn't fully understand. Nevertheless, this was a really engaging collection with a good variety of poets - some of which I now plan to find more to read from!

[M.W.P.M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ariadne's Thread is an introduction to the work of eight poets who happen to be Polish women: Kazimiera Iłłakowiczówna, Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska, Anna Świrszczyńska, Anna Kamieńska, Wisława Szymborska, Urszula Kozioł, Halina Poświatowska, and Ewa Lipska...

From Kazimiera Iłłakowiczówna...

A heart promised to break.
It was not broken.
Life threatened to wither.
Nothing faded it.

So hat has happened?
Is all this real?
Petrified in poetry
it stays alive.

- Illusions and reality, pg. 6

From Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska...

Are you worried about me? Why?
Yes, life is stormy and infinitely evil,
but when did a mermaid ever need
a life belt?

- Security, pg. 15

From Anna Świrszczyńska...

When I am alone
there is more room inside me.
I sit down comfortably
inside me, with my legs crossed,
and settle down to thinking
about this and that.

When I am alone
every religion's paradise
blooms in me.
Splendours and wings float
upwards.

When I am alone
the frost of outer space
pierces through my skin.
Two hundred and eighty degrees
below zero.

- Two hundred and eighty degrees below zero, pg. 27

From Anna Kamieńska...

We do not have any history
we only have moments
of wasted life.
We only have forty eight hours
of false justice.
This is not history, nor her bells,
these running sands, subdued voices,
our funerals in whispering leaves,
a hug over the coffin and eyes, eyes . . .
Time, rolling over us,
does not have the brow of history,
just the shrewd, sharp muzzle of a fox.

- History, pg. 33

From Wisława Szymborska...

We are the children of this age,
this age is political.

All your, his, our
day and night-time affairs
are political affairs.

Whether you like it or not
your genes have a political future
the colour of your skin is political
your eyes have a political dimension.
Whatever you say has its echo
whatever you keep quiet about
is political regardless.

Apolitical poems are political too
the moon in the sky does not look like the moon.
To be or not to be, that is the question.
What question, tell me, my darling?
The political question.

You need not even be a human being
to acquire political importance.
It is enough just to be oil
fodder or recyclable material
or a conference table, the shape of which
can be on an agenda for months.
All this time people have been dying
animals have been starving
houses have been burning
fields have been turning fallow
just as in far off distant
less political ages.

- Children of this age, pg. 45

From Urszula Kozioł...

We know it will come
We match plastic blocks,
sweet lies, petty thoughts

We know it will come

balloons - trivial words
rise up
boasting of colours

we know -

Scheherazade telling stories
tried to live one more day.

- A thousand and one nights, pg. 54

From Halina Poświatowska...

Whenever I really want to live I cry
and if life tries to leave me
I hold on to him
I say - Life
don't leave me yet

holding his warm hand in mine
my lips whispering
in his ear

Life
- as if life were a lover
sneaking away -

I throw myself on him
crying

If you leave me I'll die.

- pg. 61

From Ewa Lipska...

Gods of the world unite!
Set up the party of one heart and liver,
And save the milkman
who at the crack of dawn
milks the morning mist
and whistles the tune about freedom.

- Manifesto, pg. 67