Wislawa Szymborska was a Polish poet, essayist and translator, born in 1923 near Kornik and died in 2012 in Krakow. She received the 1996 Nobel Prize in Literature, the Swedish Academy citing poetry that, "with ironic precision, allows the historical and biological context to come to light in fragments of human reality." Known for a spare, deceptively simple style that examines everyday subjects, chance and the limits of human knowledge with wit and philosophical depth, Szymborska published relatively few poems by the standards of a major poet but saw them translated into numerous languages, including Arabic, Hebrew, Japanese, Persian and Chinese, following her Nobel recognition.
Facts
AwardNobel Prize in Literature, 1996, awarded "for poetry that with ironic precision allows the historical and biological context to come to light in fragments of human reality". 1 Classification
Original Language FAQs
How does the Nobel Foundation describe Wisława Szymborska's poetry?
It addressed existential questions and does not easily lend itself to categorization.
The Nobel Foundation's facts page says her poetry addressed existential questions. It describes the work as unique among its kind, saying it does not easily lend itself to categorization, so no single school or label is offered for it.
Did Wisława Szymborska work as anything besides a poet?
She was a poetry editor, columnist and translator of French poetry.
Yes. Her Nobel Foundation biography says that from 1953 to 1981 she worked as poetry editor and columnist at the Kraków literary weekly Życie Literackie, where her series of essays Lektury nadobowiązkowe appeared. It adds that she also translated French poetry.
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Source Wisława Szymborska (Wikipedia)tier 2
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1. Wisława Szymborska (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation (Wikipedia)Wikipedia lead sentence, opening parenthetical birth-death dates
Maria Wisława Anna Szymborska (Polish: [viˈswava ʂɨmˈbɔrska]; 2 July 1923-1 February 2012) was a Polish poet, essayist, translator, and recipient of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Wikipedia lead section, second paragraph, Nobel Prize sentence
Szymborska was awarded the 1996 Nobel Prize in Literature "for poetry that with ironic precision allows the historical and biological context to come to light in fragments of human reality".
Original language statement
Wislawa Szymborska was a Polish poet, essayist and translator, born in 1923 near Kornik and died in 2012 in Krakow.
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