[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 21 (Wednesday, February 8, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E162]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      HONORING WISLAWA SZYMBORSKA

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MIKE QUIGLEY

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 8, 2012

  Mr. QUIGLEY. Mr. Speaker, my esteemed colleagues, please join me in 
honoring the late Wislawa Szymborska, Nobel Prize winning Polish poet 
and essayist, who passed away on February 1, 2012. Wislawa Szymborska 
was described as ``the Mozart of poetry . . . with the furor of 
Beethoven.'' She received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1996, 
propelling her to international fame.
  Incredibly particular in what she deemed worthy of print, Ms. 
Szymborska published less than 400 poems over the span of six decades. 
First gaining notoriety in Poland, her poetry eventually became known 
worldwide. She was renowned for approaching serious subjects with humor 
and satire, as well as for deeply examining seemingly trivial everyday 
occurrences. A true artist, she was very much in tune with human 
nature, while seemingly transcendent above it all. She was also 
notoriously private, choosing to remain away from what she called the 
``fuss.''
  Wislawa Szymborska's poetry is so profoundly rooted in human reality 
and yet so far removed from it, that it will surely withstand the test 
of time for generations to come. Both she and her poetry will be truly 
missed.

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