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by Wislawa Szymborska (Author)

WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE

A remarkable, graceful collection from one of Europe's most prominent and celebrated poets.

In these 100 poems, Wislawa Szymborska portrays a world of astonishing diversity and richness, in which nature is wise and prodigal and fate unpredictable, if not mischievous. With acute irony tempered by a generous curiosity, she documents life's improbability as well as its transient beauty.

"Wislawa Szymborska is not only one of the finest poets living today, but also one of the most readable. In these dazzling new translations Baranczak and Cavanaugh convey the full range of her wit and humor in poems that read as if they were written in English." -Charles Simic

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In these 100 poems Wislawa Szymborska portrays a world of astonishing diversity and richness, in which nature is wise and prodigal and fate unpredictable, if not mischievous. With acute irony tempered by a generous curiosity, she documents life's improbability as well as its transient beauty. The ruins of Troy; sunlight gleaming on a pewter jug; birds returning in the spring; the Abominable Snowman lurking in the Himalayas; a body-building contest; a symphony; a macabre laboratory experiment with a decapitated dog; a postcard from a sister who has "much to tell"; the discovery of a new star; the irrationality of love; the infinity of (pi).