Herbert, Zbigniew

Related Category: Russian and Eastern European Literature: Biographies

(zbēg´nyĕf khĕr´bĕrt) 1924–98, Polish poet, essayist, and playwright, b. Lwów, Poland (now Lviv, Ukraine). Herbert, who had degrees in economics, philosophy, and law, was one of Poland's finest modern poets. A member of the anti-Nazi resistence, he later also opposed Poland's Communist rule. Herbert is known for pared-down, precise, and barely punctuated verse informed by a dispassionate, objective, and ironic tone. Often referring to ancient Greece and Rome, he takes dispossession and the tyranny of history as his frequent subjects, suggesting the need to remain faithful to enduring principles and humane in a savage age. His first collection, Struna światła [a string of light], was published in 1956 and was followed by several volumes including Pan Cogito (1974, tr. Mr. Cogito, 1993), in which Herbert introduced his anti-heroic modern Everyman. Other English translations of his verse include Selected Poems (1968), Collected Poems (1977), Report from the Besieged City, (Raport z oblężonego miata, 1983; tr. 1985), and Elegy for the Departure (Elegia na odejście, 1993; tr. 1999). English versions of his essays are found in such volumes as Barbarian in the Garden (1962, tr. 1986) and King of the Ants (1999).

See study by S. Baranczak (1987).