Monday, December 16, 2024

Book Note: The Collected Poems: 1956–1998 by Zbigniew Herbert

Herbert, Zbigniew. The Collected Poems: 1956–1998. Translated and Edited by Alissa Valles. Additional translations by Czeslaw Milosz and Peter Dale Scott. New York: Ecco, 2007.

I don't often have the time to go through a complete volume of poetry—much less a collected works—but I took the time for Zbigniew Herbert.

He repays reading (and re-reading). 

With Bardfilm's eye, I spotted some of the Shakespeare in these works by the master Polish poet.

In "Journey to Kraków," we're presented with a convincing portrait of a conversation on a train—a conversation that breaks off at the most interesting part!


That's a very intriguing slice of life—and I'm very fond of the author of Hamlet being called "a foreign writer." And even the sudden intrusion of the tunnel makes poetic and literary sense.

The other Shakespeare-related poem is "Elegy of Fortinbras," which I found highly reminiscent of C. P. Cavafy's "King Claudius" (for which, q.v.).


I shall let that one speak for itself, but I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

When you next get a chance, try some Zbigniew Herbert. Even saying his name will bring poetry into your life: Zbigniew, Zbigniew, Zbigniew.

Click below to purchase the book from amazon.com
(and to support Bardfilm as you do so).

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Bardfilm is normally written as one word, though it can also be found under a search for "Bard Film Blog." Bardfilm is a Shakespeare blog (admittedly, one of many Shakespeare blogs), and it is dedicated to commentary on films (Shakespeare movies, The Shakespeare Movie, Shakespeare on television, Shakespeare at the cinema), plays, and other matter related to Shakespeare (allusions to Shakespeare in pop culture, quotes from Shakespeare in popular culture, quotations that come from Shakespeare, et cetera).

Unless otherwise indicated, quotations from Shakespeare's works are from the following edition:
Shakespeare, William. The Riverside Shakespeare. 2nd ed. Gen. ed. G. Blakemore Evans. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997.
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The very instant that I saw you did / My heart fly to your service; there resides, / To make me slave to it; and, for your sake, / Am I this patient [b]log-man.

—The Tempest