Anna Świrszczyńska (also known as Anna Swir) (1909–1984) was a Polish

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

whose works deal with themes including her experiences during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, motherhood, the female body, and sensuality.

Biography

Świrszczyńska was born in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

and grew up in poverty as the daughter of an artist. She began publishing her poems in the 1930s. During the Nazi occupation of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

she joined the

Polish resistance movement in World War II In Poland, the Resistance during World War II, resistance movement during World War II was led by the Home Army. The Polish resistance is notable among others for disrupting German supply lines to the Eastern Front (World War II), Eastern Front ...

and was a military nurse during the

Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising (; ), sometimes referred to as the August Uprising (), or the Battle of Warsaw, was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from ...

. She wrote for underground publications and once waited 60 minutes to be executed.

Czesław Miłosz Czesław Miłosz ( , , ; 30 June 1911 – 14 August 2004) was a Polish Americans, Polish-American poet, prose writer, translator, and diplomat. He primarily wrote his poetry in Polish language, Polish. Regarded as one of the great poets of the ...

writes of knowing her during this time and has translated a volume of her work. Her experiences during the war strongly influenced her poetry. In 1974 she published ''Building the Barricade'', a volume which describes the suffering she witnessed and experienced during that time. She also writes frankly about the female body in various stages of life. Some of Swir's poems are translated into Nepali by

Suman Pokhrel Suman Pokhrel (; born 21 September 1967) is a Nepali people, Nepali poet, lyricist, playwright, translator and artist. Universities in Nepal and India have included his poetry in their syllabi. Pokhrel is the only writer to have received the SAA ...

and are collected in an anthology tilled ''Manpareka Kehi Kavita''. Siddheshwar Singh, Manoj Patel and other translators have translated many of her poems into

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

. Nine of Swir's poems were posthumously published by family, earlier translated in Dutch by Gerard Rasch, in his work ''Memento'' in 2005. Hendrik Lindepuu translated a collection of poems by Świrszczyńska into Estonian and published it as a separate book: ''Anna Świrszczyńska. Ma ehitasin barrikaadi''. Halliste: Hendrik Lindepuu Kirjastus, 2019. 187 pages. . The Spanish composer

Luis de Pablo Luis de Pablo Costales (28 January 1930 – 10 October 2021) was a Spanish composer belonging to the generation that Cristóbal Halffter named ''the Generación del 51''. Mostly self-taught as a composer and influenced by Maurice Ohana and Max ...

premiered in 2019 the ''Cantata femenina Anna Swir'' (''Female Cantata Anna Swir''), based on several poems by this author. Tomas Marco: otes to the program Community of Madrid Orchestra, February 13, 2019.

Works

Poetry collections

* ''Wiersze i proza'' (''Poems and Prose'') (1936) * ''Liryki zebrane'' (''Collected Poems'') (1958) * ''Czarne słowa'' (''Black Words'') (1967) * ''Wiatr'' (''Wind'') (1970) * ''Jestem baba'' (''I am a Woman'') (1972) * ''Poezje wybrane'' (''Selected Poems'') (1973) * ''Budowałam barykadę'' (''Building the Barricade'') (1974) * ''Szczęśliwa jak psi ogon'' (''Happy as a Dog's Tail'') (1978) * ''Cierpienie i radość'' (''Suffering and Joy'') (1985)

Collections in English translation

* ''Thirty-four Poems on the Warsaw Uprising'' (1977), New York. Transl.: Magnus Jan Kryński, Robert A. Maguire. * ''Building the Barricade'' (1979), Kraków. Transl.: Magnus Jan Kryński, Robert A. Maguire. * ''Happy as a Dog's Tail'' (1985), San Diego. Transl.:

& Leonard Nathan. * ''Fat Like the Sun'' (1986), London. Transl.: M. Marshment, G. Baran. * ''Talking to My Body'' (

Copper Canyon Press Copper Canyon Press is an independent, non-profit small press, founded in 1972 by Sam Hamill, Tree Swenson, Bill O'Daly, and Jim Gautney, specializing exclusively in the publication of poetry. It is located in Port Townsend, Washington. Copper C ...

, 1996) Transl.:

& Leonard Nathan. * ''Building the Barricade and Other Poems of Anna Swir'' Tr. by Piotr Florczyk
Calypso Editions
2011). * ''Building the Barricade'' (2016), Portland, Oreg. Transl.: Piotr Florczyk.

References

External links

* https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/anna-swir {{DEFAULTSORT:Swirszczynska, Anna 1909 births 1984 deaths Polish resistance members of World War II Warsaw Uprising insurgents Polish female soldiers Polish soldiers 20th-century Polish poets Polish women writers 20th-century Polish women writers World War II poets Polish women in World War II resistance