Rendition ; and other poems

Wielogłos, 2018

The Virginia English Journal, 2015

Description of my meeting with Milosz and translation of two of his poems: "Powinien, nie powinien" (1961) ["Should, Shouldn't"] and "Godzina" (1974) ["The Hour"].

Translation Review, 1998

2015

The study raises the issue of the relations of Polish poetry after 1989 to the writings of Adam Mickiewicz. The Author presents the current state of the art and carries out a broad analysis and interpretation of works containing numerous references to Mickiewicz's creative output. This is particularly the case of the intertextual spaces where one can find allusions, quotations, crypto-quotations, paraphrases, reminiscences, stylizations or pastiche forms alluding to Mickiewicz's works. By researching these kinds of stylistic devices, the Author can answer questions about the role played in the contemporary poets' writings by the literary tradition and the mere creative output of the author of Pan Tadeusz. The first chapter of the study, titled Adam Mickiewicz's writings in the 'young' Polish poetry after 1989. Views-Conversations-Examples, is on the critical and poetic discussions about Mickiewicz, his role and the forms of the presence of his writings in Polish poetry after 1989. In that part of his study, the Author refers to, inter alia, the significant texts by Piotr Śliwiński, Arkadiusz Bagłajewski, Tomasz Cieślak and Magdalena Rabizo-Birek. He also

Konteksty Kultury, 2023

A conversation with two South African literary scholars who have engaged in comparative research on Polish and South African literature, addressing historical parallels between the two regions. The conversation was conducted through an email exchange. Karina Jarzyńska: When did you first encounter the literary works by Adam Zagajewski? Michael Chapman: I first encountered Adam Zagajewski's poetry in 2000 at the Humanitas bookshop in Timișoara, Romania. I found his work in a larger anthology titled Shifting Borders: East European Poetry of the Eighties, which was compiled and edited by Walter Cummings (1993). There I discovered two poems by Zagajewski: "In May" and "Poems on Poland".

Jednak Książki. Gdańskie Czasopismo Humanistyczne, 2021

The article is an analysis and interpretation of Adam Zagajewski’s A quick poem. The main point of consideration is the issue of speed and slowness. The article also addresses the problem of the condition of the lyrical ego and its relationship with the world. It also shows the changes taking place and catastrophic moods.

Wisława Szymborska. Collages, 2014

Versatility of creation of Wisława Szymborska, the best Polish poet, Nobel Price laureate.

Rocznik Komparatystyczny, 2013

Public fascination with Polish composer, virtuoso pianist and statesman, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, continued throughout his creative life. His museum in Morges, Switzerland, his Archives at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland and at the Archiwum Akt Nowych in Warsaw, contain numerous gifts, honors, tributes, and awards, bestowed upon Paderewski during his lifetime. This paper presents a range of literary tributes to the pianist-politician, spanning his career, from 1889, following his first international triumphs as a virtuoso in Paris and Brussels, to 1941 and elegies that expressed grief after his death. The overview includes analysis and context of Paderewski-themed poems by Richard Watson Gilder, John Huston Finley, Robert Underwood Johnson, Charles Phillips, Henryk Merzbach, Julian A. Święcicki, Maryla Wolska, Waldemar Bakalarski, and Anne Strakacz-Appleton. Several thematic threads are singled out and exemplified by poems: "synaesthetic," "erudite," "patriotic," "laudatory" or "commemorative," and "elegiac." The poetic responses, arising as a reaction to current political and artistic events, feature two turning points (a) in 1918 when Poland regained independence and Paderewski became its prime minister and (b) in 1941 when he died. While the literary quality of most of these poems is not consistent, the poetry provides a valuable document of its times and a testimony to Paderewski's close links with the members of the American literary establishment (Gilder and Finley were editors of important journals and influential men of letters; Finley and Phillips taught at universities, etc.). The poems also reveal the virtuoso pianist's unique role in Polish culture, both within the country and in exile communities. The text of Paderewski's patriotic song of 1917 is also discussed; all the poems are collected in an appendix.Published in Polish Music Journal (online) vol. 4, no. 1 (Summer 2001). Paper presented at the Session on "Paderewski and Sembrich." Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., June 2002.

Acta Universitatis Lodziensis. Folia Litteraria Polonica, 2016

The article deals with the images of Lithuania found in Czesław Miłosz’s poetry. The novels and essays have only been used to confirm the conclusions drawn from the interpretation of selected poems. Despite the frequently-declared unwillingness of the author of Dolina Issy (The Valley of the Issa) to accept and use any autobiographical elements in literature, the land of his childhood has always been present in all the poet’s works. The explanation of this fascination with nostalgia seems to be unsatisfactory. The author of the article perceives the poetic images of Lithuania created by the uprooted immigrant as a symbol of his inner, not purely geographical, settlement. The subject of the discussion is the ever-changing perception of the Eastern-Borderland, which corresponds to particular stages of the protagonist’s journey through life. The starting point is the experience of eviction. It modifies the originally idealized vision of the “little homeland” and makes the hero’s attemp...