Verses by some of Poland's most distinguished post-war poets are installed in the carriages of London's underground Tube trains in June and July
Three poems by outstanding Polish poets -"Blacksmith Shop" by Czeslaw Miłosz, "Nothing Special" by Zbigniew Herbert and "Star" by Adam Zagajewski - are on display in Tube trains, marking the centenary of Czesław Miłosz, one of the greatest poets of our time, writer and Nobel Prize winner.
The poets were close friends and associates, writing in the dark shadow of Polish suffering during and after the Second World War. Milosz translated the poems of Herbert and introduced Adam Zagajewski to English-speaking readers; Zagajewski wrote the Introduction to Herbert's "Collected Poems". All three poets were 'makers' in the oldest sense, artists building a world 'from remnants', celebrating the joys of ordinary life despite the ravages of history.
Three poems by British authors are also selected to be displayed in tube carriages across London. They are pieces continuing the theme of poetry's powerful ability of recording the world: "The Windhover" by Gerard Manley Hopkins, "At Sixty" by the Shetlandic poet Christine de Luca and "Ourstory" by Carole Satyamurti.
Judith Chernaik, who founded the Poems on the Underground series twenty-five years ago, said in thepolskiblog.co.uk:
We hope that Londoners and visitors alike will enjoy this latest collection of poems which celebrate one of the greatest Polish poets of our time.
A leaflet of Polish Poems on the Underground is freely distrubuted from June 10, 2011 at the following Tube stations: Embankment, Covent Garden, South Kensington, Russell Square and Moorgate.
The poems have been selected by writer Judith Chernaik and poets Cicely Herbert and Gerard Benson (poet laureate of Bradford). The posters have been designed by Tom Davidson, and are available from London Transport Shop, the Poetry Society and the British Council.
"Poems on the Underground" is supported by TfL, Arts Council England and the British Council, with special support from the Polish Cultural Institute for Polish Poems on the Underground.
Date: 1st-14th of August, 2011
Location: London Underground Central Line
Organised by: Adam Mickiewicz Institute
Source: www.polishculture.org.uk, www.britishcouncil.org, www.tfl.gov.uk