Szymborska Zen?

On the basis of reading Szymborska’s poems, Lektury nadobowiązkowe (Non-required Reading) and some auto-thematic reflections from interviews, and referring to – among other things – the conceptions of “ordinary Buddhism” proposed by the French writer Hervé Clerc and “spontaneous enlightenment,” which the Italian scholar of Chán/Zen Aldo Tollini uses in relation to the writing of Luigi Pirandello, the author suggests that the poetic world of Wisława Szymborska is deeply immersed in Zen philosophy. There are some fundamental concepts of Zen thought that shed an interesting light on the general message of this poetry, pointing out many similarities and affinities. This concerns, for example, the ironic and antiphrastic conception of poetic language, the relation between poetry and reality, as well as the method of experiencing the world based on distance and doubt.
 

On the basis of reading Szymborska’s poems, Lektury nadobowiązkowe (Non-required Reading) and some auto-thematic reflections from interviews, and referring to – among other things – the conceptions of “ordinary Buddhism” proposed by the French writer Hervé Clerc and “spontaneous enlightenment,” which the Italian scholar of Chán/Zen Aldo Tollini uses in relation to the writing of Luigi Pirandello, the author suggests that the poetic world of Wisława Szymborska is deeply immersed in Zen philosophy. There are some fundamental concepts of Zen thought that shed an interesting light on the general message of this poetry, pointing out many similarities and affinities. This concerns, for example, the ironic and antiphrastic conception of poetic language, the relation between poetry and reality, as well as the method of experiencing the world based on distance and doubt.