They Came to See a Poet

Selected Poems

Rozewicz Tadeusz

Tadeusz Rozewicz is Poland's most popular and influential poet. Born in 1921, he belongs to the generation of writers whose work was indelibly marked by Poland's traumatic and tragic war-time experience. "What I produced is poetry for the horror-stricken. For those abandoned to butchery. For survivors". Rejecting traditional aesthetic values – which struck him as offensive in the face of what he had witnessed – Rozewicz has created a stark, direct poetry rooted in common speech, fashioned out of a remnant of words, salvaged words, out of uninteresting words, words from the great rubbish dump, the great cemetery.

Yet Rozewicz's poetry is not confined to recording the horrors of war. "They Came to See a Poet" includes poems addressing childhood, friendship, love, eroticism, art, the poet's role and obligations, religion, ageing, death and the anxieties of modern civilization. In 2003 Tadeusz Rozewicz was awarded the Montale Prize, the latest of many awards and honours.

About the Author

Tadeusz Rozewicz was born in 1921 in Radomsko, a town in central Poland. He fought in the Resistance against the Nazis, and after the war studied art history at Krakow University. He has published numerous collections of poetry, and his experimental and often controversial plays have been widely performed. His poetry has been translated into many languages. He lives in Wroc³aw, but often travels in Europe and America.

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