Wisława Szymborska’s poems are not the poetry of big ideas. It is the poetry of minor events, ordinary objects, a bit like Białoszewski’s, but also a bit different. Because under this ordinary everyday life veneer, there’s always an extra layer, a deeper level, lurking in the work of the Nobel Prize winner from Kraków. This time it’s an experience that’s the basis for entering adulthood, because adulthood can be entered at any age, even when as a one-year-old.
This beloved poem has an anecdote behind it that amuses fans. The destroyer of homeware is in fact Natalia, the daughter of Szymborska’s long-serving secretary Michał Rusinek. The grown-up Natalia has seen our animation and told us she enjoyed it very much.
So if Szymborska's work is neither the poetry of ideas nor the poetry of everyday life, what is it, you may ask. Perhaps simply the poetry of life? Or maybe it isn’t poetry at all, but how life is…
Hear the poem in the original Polish read by Wisława Szymborska herself!: Wisława Szymborska Czyta Wiersz Mała Dziewczynka Ściąga Obrus.