Wislawa

Aiden Best 

HL English World Lit

May 2016

Word Count: 1497

Politics: Its Lack of Truth, Ineffectiveness, and Consuming Nature in Two Poems by Wislawa Szymborska

The globally recognized poet, Wislawa Szymborska, is one of the most renowned and accomplished poets of the 20th century. She has won numerous awards including the Noble prize. Szymborska lived in Poland and writes about the effects of politics throughout her work, specifically in “Children of Our Age” and “The Century’s Decline”. She is an astonishing woman who has suffered through war, famine, and economic depression but specifically writes about the power and horrors associated with politics. In her poetry she reveals the true characteristics of politics. Szymborska classifies politics as consuming by nature because of its control over our thoughts and decisions. Szymborska also looks into the ineffectiveness of politics, specifically looking at the motives of those who deal in politics. Lastly, she unveils the lack of truth associated with politics as it has affected the world, while comparing the 20th century to earlier times. Examining these two poems on a deeper level, will prove Szymborska’s views on politics as being consuming by nature, dishonest, and overall, ineffective in changing the world.

        In the poem “Children of our Age”, Szymborska assesses how politics control and affect the way we think and the decisions that we make. She specifically looks at how we have been bound or restricted by politics. For example, she writes,

                “We are children of our age,

                it's a political age.

                All day long, all through the night,

                all affairs-yours, ours, theirs-

                are political affairs.”(1-2.1-6)

With this line, the poet expresses the topic of politics in an exhausting way, giving it a restless connotation. She emphasizes how all of our affairs are shared in society. Whether they are right or wrong, we all have to deal with political decisions. In the next stanza, Szymborska stresses the point that we all have a political perspective:

                “Whether you like it or not,

                your genes have a political past,

                your skin, a political cast,

                your eyes, a political slant.”(3. 7-11)

The poet expresses that while you may not like your political view, you are still stuck with it. When Szymborska writes "your skin"(3.9) and how it has a specific "political cast,"(3.9) she recognizes race (color or hue) as a part of politics, not only in the sense of having laws and governmental policies regarding race, but she also emphasizes race as a daily political issue that humans experience. She continues to repeat “politics,” saying that, “apolitical poems are also political.”(6.16) From this line she expresses that things that are not involved in politics still have a political meaning. Therefore, Szymborska sees politics, in this poem, less in terms of a contest for re-election and more as an everyday exercise that we all struggle with. She continues to expose politics, saying that