Wislawa Szymborska e la lingua polacca

Abstract

The article discusses the linguistic characteristics of Wislawa Szymborska’s poetry, aiming to examine the Polish language in her texts at a basic grammatical and lexical level. It points out that Szymborska’s relationship with her native language is one of trust and respect, unlike many 20th-century poets who distrusted language due to its inability to express the fast technological and social changes and the horrors of modem wars. Her poetry avoids breaking away from conventional language practices, instead relying on linguistic structures to convey her thoughts. She often emphasises the use of basic words like pronouns, prepositions, and particles and avoids vulgarities, jargon, and emotionally charged terms. Szymborska’s Polish has been consistent and coherent over her sixty-year career, with a vocabulary that remains simple and accessible. Despite the simplicity of her language, Szymborska’s poetry contains deep reflections and sophisticated thoughts, communicated through what critics call “poetry of grammar” and “poetic games with grammar”.