Zbigniew Herbert
Overview
 
Zbigniew Herbert AUD was an influential Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

, essayist, drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...

 writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

, author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

 of plays
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...

, and moralist. A member of the Polish resistance movement
Resistance movement
A resistance movement is a group or collection of individual groups, dedicated to opposing an invader in an occupied country or the government of a sovereign state. It may seek to achieve its objects through either the use of nonviolent resistance or the use of armed force...

 – Home Army (AK) during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, he is one of the best known and the most translated post-war Polish writers. He was first published in 1950; his writing debut was a volume of verse String of light and it was published in 1956. One of Herbert’s most valuable works is a cycle of writings about Pan Cogito (Mr.
Quotations

Jeśli tematem sztukibędzie dzbanek rozbitymała rozbita duszaz wielkim żalem nad sobąto co po nas zostaniebędzie jak płacz kochankóww małym brudnym hotelukiedy świtają tapety

if the subject of art will be a broken juga small broken soulwith a great self-pity what will remain of uswill be like tears of lovers in a small dirty hotel when wallpapers dawn

Go where the others have gone, to the tenebrous limitfor the golden fleece of void, your ultimate prizego upright among those who are on their kneesamong those turning their backs on and those fallen to dust

Message of Mr. Cogito

And do not forgive indeed it is beyond your powerto forgive in the name of those betrayed at dawn

Message of Mr. Cogito

You survived not to live onyour time is short, you have to give a proof of truth

Message of Mr. Cogito

Go for it is the only way to be accepted to the circle of cold skullsthe circle of your forefathers: Gilgamesh Hector Rolanddefenders of the kingdom of no frontiers and of the city of ashesBe faithful Go

Message of Mr. Cogito

 
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