Halina Poświatowska (; née Halina Myga, entered into church records as Helena Myga; born 9 May 1935 – 11 October 1967) was a Polish poet and writer, one of the most important figures in modern/contemporary Polish literature. Poświatowska is famous for her lyrical poetry, and for her intellectual, passionate yet unsentimental poetry on the themes of death, love, existence, famous historical personages, especially women, as well as her mordant treatment of life, living, being, bees, cats and the sensual qualities of loving, grieving and desiring.

Biography

Her first heart operation was performed in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, in 1958, her sea passage on the Polish ocean liner ''

MS Batory MS ''Batory'' was a Polish ocean liner which was the flagship of Gdynia-America Line, named after Stefan Batory, the sixteenth-century king of Poland. She was the sister ship of . After Allied wartime service, mainly under the UK Admiralty, she b ...

'', the costs of her stay, and the procedure itself, funded by monies gathered in collection by

Polish-Americans Polish Americans ( pl, Polonia amerykańska) are Americans who either have total or partial Polish ancestry, or are citizens of the Republic of Poland. There are an estimated 9.15 million self-identified Polish Americans, representing about 2.83 ...

, and was successful enough to enable her to live for nine more years. Instead of returning to Poland afterward, she enrolled at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, where she completed her undergraduate studies in 3 years, commencing with no command of the English language whatsoever. Then, turning down an offer of graduate admission with full financial support, extended to her by the faculty of Stanford University's Department of Philosophy, she returned to Poland, where she matriculated in Philosophy at the Jagellonian University,

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

, and died before continuing on to complete the doctorate, as a 4th year student. She died at 32 after a second heart operation, this time, performed in Poland, to correct an acquired chronic heart defect that limited her mobility and breathing, which befell her due to chronic chill as a 9-year-old child during the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

German occupation of Poland.

Works

* ''Hymn bałwochwalczy'' (1958) * ''Opowieść dla przyjaciela'' (1967, prose) * "Tańcząca Nina" . 19 in ''Wiersze wybrane'', Jan Zych, ed.* "***('my nie wierzymy w piekło...')" 2* "***('Jestem Julią...') 5* ***('codziennie')" 52* "W przestrzeni i czasie" 00* "***('Kiedy Izolda umierała...')" 22* ''Bajka o sówce, która w dzień spać lubiła'' (a 10-page poem fable in strict rhyme)

Literary heritage

Her works have been collected in the four-volume ''Dzieła'' (Works), published by Wydawnictwo Literackie, Kraków, Poland, 1997, of which the first two volumes (several hundred pages) are poems, and the latter two prose and letters, respectively. She is the subject of several scholarly books and many reprints. Her popularity as a poet continues unabated in Poland, and new translations have increased her importance to world literature. If her own poem content, as well as her own poetry translations are any indication, she was influenced by Ezra Pound,

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Federico García Lorca Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936), known as Federico García Lorca ( ), was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblemat ...

Jacques Prévert Jacques Prévert (; 4 February 1900 – 11 April 1977) was a French poet and screenwriter. His poems became and remain popular in the French-speaking world, particularly in schools. His best-regarded films formed part of the poetic realist moveme ...

, and a bevy of Slovene poets:

Kajetan Kovič Kajetan Kovič (21 October 1931 – 7 November 2014) was a Slovene poet, writer, translator, and journalist. In 1978, he received the Prešeren Award, the highest artistic award in Slovenia, for his poetry collection ''Labrador.'' Life Kovič ...

Jože Udovič Jože is a male given name related to Joseph. Notable people with this name include: * Jože Babič (1917–1996), Slovenian film, theatre and television director * Jože Benko (born 1980), Slovenian football striker * Jože Berc (born 1944), Slo ...

, Saša Vegri,

Dane Zajc Dane Zajc () (26 October 1929 – 20 October 2005) was a Slovenian poet and playwright. He served as president of the Slovene Writers' Association (1991–1995), and was awarded the prestigious Prešeren Award for lifetime achievement (1981). To ...

, as well as the classical Greek philosopher

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...

, bees, cats, the color red, the texture of fur,

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

's antiquity collections, and her contemporary Black American (

Negro In the English language, ''negro'' is a term historically used to denote persons considered to be of Black African heritage. The word ''negro'' means the color black in both Spanish and in Portuguese, where English took it from. The term can be ...

) city culture – in particular, the people of New York City, in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Ha ...

Notable translations (ad hoc collections)

Books and journals

* * ''Ey zendegi tarkam koni mimiram. Gozine-ye ash'ar = Życie, umrę jeśli odejdziesz. Wybór wierszy'', rans. into the Persian

Alireza Doulatshahi Ali Reza (also spelled Alireza or Ali-Reza) is a given name popular among Iranians referring to the imams of Shia Islam Ali and Ali al-Ridha. People Ali Reza * Ali-Reza Asgari, Iranian general * Ali Reza Eftekhari, Iranian pop singer * Ali Reza N ...

, Ivonna Nowicka. Baal Publications, Tehran-Iran 2010, 93 p. * ''Indeed I love...'', selected and transl. into the English by Maya Peretz, afterword by Anna Nasiłowska. Wydawnictwo Literackie, Kraków 1998, 2005, 233 pp. * ''Mon ombre est une femme'', poèmes trad. du pol. par Isabelle Macor-Filarska et Grzegorz Splawinski. Éditions Caractères, Paris 2004, 100 p. * ''Racconto per un amico'', trad. dal pol. di Vera Verdiani. Neri Pozza Editore, Vicenza dr. 2001, 175 p. * ''Oiseau de mon coeur...'', choix et traduction Isabelle Macor-Filarska, Grzegorz Spławiński, postface Izolda Kiec. Wydawnictwo Literackie, Kraków 1998, 163 p. * ''Ošče edin spomen : poezija, proza, prev. ot pol''. Zdravko Kis'ov, Blagovesta Lingorska. Karina M., Sofija 1997, 253 p.

Unpublished/Internet

References

* Grażyna Borkowska, ''Nierozważna i nieromantyczna. O Halinie Poświatowskiej'' 'Reckless and Unromantic. On Halina Poświatowska''

: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2001, first edition, paperback, pp. 204, . * Kalina Błażejowska, ''Uparte serce'' 'A Stubborn Heart'' Kraków: Wydawnictwo Znak, 2014, first edition, hardback, 338 pp,

Notes

External links

Comprehensive site that includes her original poetry, bio, indexes, photographs

* An essay introducing a scholarly book on Poświatowska's poetry by Grażyna Borkowska, ''Nierozważna i nieromantyczna. O Halinie Poświatowskiej'' 'Reckless and Unromantic. On Halina Poświatowska''(2014-04-30) *

Halina Poświatowska
collected works (Polish)
Halina Poświatowska
biography (Polish) * An interview with the biographer introducing a scholarly biography of Poświatowska by Kalina Błażejowska, ''Uparte serce'' 'A Stubborn Heart''(2014-06-27) *

{{DEFAULTSORT:Poswiatowska, Halina 1935 births 1967 deaths Smith College alumni Polish women poets 20th-century women writers 20th-century Polish poets People from Częstochowa 20th-century Polish women