SOUNDS, FEELINGS, THOUGHTS: THE POETRY OF WISŁAWA SZYMBORSKA

War II, much of her early work was infused with the ideology of socialist realism as then forcefully propagated by the Communist Party. These poems were collected in the volumes Dlatego zyjemy (That's What We Live For, Warsaw, Czytelnik, 1952), and Pytania zadawane sobie (Questions Put to Myself, Cracow, Wydawnictwo Literackie, 1954). In retrospect, the best that can be said about them is that they are not so strident in tone as similar exercises produced at the time, and that they do contain a few per sonal lyrics. It was in 1957, with the volume Wolanie do Yeti (Calling Out to Yeti, Cracow, Wydawnictwo Literackie), that Szymborska abandoned overtly political themes, found her true voice, and began to build the enor mous reputation she enjoys in Poland today. A painstaking craftsman, she has published a volume of twenty-five to thirty-five poems every five years or so since 1957. They are: Sol (Salt, Warsaw, PIW, 1962); Sto pociech (A Million Laughs, Warsaw, PIW, 1967); Wszelki wypadek (There But for the Grace, Warsaw, Czytelnik, 1972); Wielka liczba (A Great Number, Warsaw, Czytelnik, 1976).1 Though slim, each volume has been hailed as a major event in Polish litera