True Love
English 200
Poetry Explication: “True Love” by Wislawa Szymborska
This paper is an essay is an analysis of Wislawa Szymborska’s poem “True Love.” When I first read the poem, I was struck by its sheer simplicity and passion at what Szymborska feels that it means for two people to be in love. However; upon further contemplation, I see how she uses the lovers to represent change in an otherwise boring and regimented world where all actions must be taken for the betterment and advancement of the state. “True Love” is a powerful piece that is told through the persona of an anonymous authoritarian bureaucrat who questions the value of love when compared to the needs of the state. “True Love” was written at a time when Soviet control was strangling the Eastern Bloc countries, particularly Poland. In this situation, citizens were expected to devote their lives to the advancement of the State – personal needs were secondary. In light of this situation, Szymborska forces the reader to examine the poem on a number of levels including the socio/political level and also at the base level of two people brought together as one. I will discuss how Szymborska, very cleverly, uses the lovers to illustrate how individuals can make effect change from within a system when they are passionate about their beliefs. I will also discuss that love, the most primal of mans’ needs, can be so complex in its simplicity that it can overwhelm and frighten those who misunderstand it.
The first stanza of the poem consists of four lines: “True love. Is it normal, is it serious, is it practical? What does the world get from two people Who exist is a world of their own?” (lines 1-4)
Szymborska begins by asking questions about love; however, is she actually asking about love or is she questioning whether it is practical for a society to acknowledge love? As an emotional human being, one would be able to answer these questions in the affirmative that, yes, love is
Poetry Explication: “True Love” by Wislawa Szymborska
This paper is an essay is an analysis of Wislawa Szymborska’s poem “True Love.” When I first read the poem, I was struck by its sheer simplicity and passion at what Szymborska feels that it means for two people to be in love. However; upon further contemplation, I see how she uses the lovers to represent change in an otherwise boring and regimented world where all actions must be taken for the betterment and advancement of the state. “True Love” is a powerful piece that is told through the persona of an anonymous authoritarian bureaucrat who questions the value of love when compared to the needs of the state. “True Love” was written at a time when Soviet control was strangling the Eastern Bloc countries, particularly Poland. In this situation, citizens were expected to devote their lives to the advancement of the State – personal needs were secondary. In light of this situation, Szymborska forces the reader to examine the poem on a number of levels including the socio/political level and also at the base level of two people brought together as one. I will discuss how Szymborska, very cleverly, uses the lovers to illustrate how individuals can make effect change from within a system when they are passionate about their beliefs. I will also discuss that love, the most primal of mans’ needs, can be so complex in its simplicity that it can overwhelm and frighten those who misunderstand it.
The first stanza of the poem consists of four lines: “True love. Is it normal, is it serious, is it practical? What does the world get from two people Who exist is a world of their own?” (lines 1-4)
Szymborska begins by asking questions about love; however, is she actually asking about love or is she questioning whether it is practical for a society to acknowledge love? As an emotional human being, one would be able to answer these questions in the affirmative that, yes, love is
Cited: Schlib, John and John Clifford, eds. Making Literature Matter: An Anthology for Readers and Writers. 4th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009. Print.