The Eternal Moment: The Poetry of Czeslaw Milosz

by Aleksander Fiut, Theodosia S. Robertson (Translator)

Aleksander Fiut's study of the poetry of Nobel Laureate Czeslaw Milosz is the first comprehensive examination of the artistic and philosophical dimensions of this remarkable oeuvre. The author refutes such easy categorizations of Milosz as "the poet of Poland," "the poet of history," "the poet of the Holocaust." He examines instead such crucial problems as Milosz's search for the essence of human nature, irreducible to historical, social, and biological categories; Milosz's reflection on the erosion of the Christian imagination, which has resulted in a fundamental gap between the individual's inner life and the image of humanity formed by scientific theories; his efforts to rebuild the anthropocentric vision of the world, while acknowledging the elements that have undermined it; and finally, his attempt to recreate in his poetry a language that is both poetic and philosophical.

The Eternal Moment originally appeared in Polish in 1987. This version, which quotes extensively from Milosz's Collected Poems , is the first thorough introduction for English-speaking readers to this major poet.

Genres: Poetry, Literature, Philosophy

226 pages, Hardcover

First published January 23, 1990

Reviews

[Minorwhite · Rating 5 out of 5]

Milosz won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1980. I've read a good sampling of his poetry over the years, but there's one poem--simple, sparse, elegiac--I cannot forget:


'Gift'

A day so happy.
Fog lifted early. I worked in the garden.
Hummingbirds were stopping over the honeysuckle flowers.
There was no thing on earth I wanted to possess.
I knew no one worth my envying him.
Whatever evil I had suffered, I forgot.
To think that once I was the same man did not embarrass me.
In my body I felt no pain.
When straightening up, I saw blue sea and sails.

[Venus Smurf · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love this poet. His works are admittedly often on depressing subjects, but there's so much power in them that it's impossible not to feel moved. No matter how many times I read his works, I always want to either burst into tears or sit and reflect. I always include a few of his pieces in the classes I teach, and I've noticed that the effect is the same on most of my students. He's amazing.