View with a Grain of Sand by Wisława Szymborska
"View with a Grain of Sand" is a poem by Polish Nobel laureate Wisława Szymborska that explores complex themes of perception and existence through a metaphysical lens. Composed of thirty-seven lines in seven stanzas, the poem is characterized by its irregular structure and absence of a consistent meter or rhyme scheme. Szymborska employs clear and straightforward language to engage readers, inviting them to share in a contemplative experience of the ordinary.
The poem begins with the image of a grain of sand, functioning as a metaphor for how humans attribute meaning and significance to the world around them, despite the inherent lack of awareness in inanimate objects. Szymborska examines how this perception shapes our understanding of reality, highlighting that concepts like time and beauty exist only through human consciousness. Through her work, she challenges readers to reconsider the nature of existence and the illusions created by language and metaphor.
Overall, "View with a Grain of Sand" serves as an insightful reflection on the relationship between human awareness and the seemingly indifferent universe, prompting contemplation on the deeper implications of everyday experiences.
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View with a Grain of Sand by Wisława Szymborska
First published: “Widek z ziarnkiem piasku,” 1986 (English translation, 1995, in View with a Grain of Sand: Selected Poems)
Type of work: Poetry
The Work:
Wisława Szymborska’s “View with a Grain of Sand” is a thirty-seven-line metaphysical and existential poem comprising seven irregular stanzas that vary between four and seven lines. The poem has no regular meter or rhyme scheme. Poetic meaning often does not survive translation, given that it is difficult to translate the rhythms, rhyme, tone, idioms, and puns created in another language. However, because Szymborska writes with clear, straightforward language, English translations of her poetry tend to be faithful to the original.
The poem is told from the point of view of an anonymous speaker using the familiar and inclusive “we” and “our” and “us.” The reader and speaker are experiencing the same scene together.
As with most of Szymborska’s poems, “View with a Grain of Sand” examines and undermines common, everyday perceptions. Szymborska looks at the ordinary and taken for granted and shows how they are astonishing as well. She embraces the Pascalian notion of human consciousness—that consciousness is what defines humans and separates humans from not only the inanimate universe but also other life forms. As Blaise Pascal’s universe remains “unaware,” so does that of Szymborska. All awareness lies with the human observer. In Pascal’s view of consciousness, dignity and higher nobility are found in this human awareness.
The poem begins with a falling grain of sand, echoing William Blake’s “Auguries of Innocence” (wr. 1803; pb. 1863), which also famously begins with a grain of sand. Here, Blake is showing how something seemingly insignificant can actually be infinite, and that the unimportant can be more significant than what is normally considered important or significant. While Szymborska agrees with Blake—that nothing is simply ordinary—she examines the ordinary from the perspective of human perception and expression. One might look at that grain of sand as Blake does, and see a “world” in it, but Szymborska insists that perception is just an illusion. The grain of sand does not “know” that it is this thing called sand: It does not need a name and can exist without “knowing” it has a name. The grain of sand, also, does not know whether it is falling or motionless, or that it is “somewhere.” Naming and placing are human conventions—they mean nothing to an inanimate object and do not affect its existence. It does not care, because it does not know to care.
The poem continues as the speaker sees the grain of sand falling (unknowingly) upon a windowsill. Through the window the speaker has a wonderful view of a nearby lake. However, the view does not know it is a view. It is a wonderful view only to a human observer. Next comes a description of four of the five human senses—sight (“colorless, shapeless”), hearing (“soundless”), smell (“odorless”), and touch (“pain”). The view from the window exists without feeling; hence, it exists without pain. Singling out pain here is deliberate, for if Szymborska had said, for example, that the view does not know its own “beauty” and exists “joylessly,” readers simply might have felt sorry for the view. That it exists painlessly, instead, implies that there could be an upside to not having awareness. The line reminds readers that perceived pain is actually an illusion, formed by consciousness creating its own awareness.
Next, the speaker contemplates the lake itself. The lake also does not know it exists as a particular, unique thing. It does not know it has dimensions, that it is wet, or that its waves make sounds. All the defining properties assigned to the lake by humans have no meaning to the lake itself; they only have meaning to the human mind. Likewise, the sky above is inherently “skyless”; there is no sky for the lake. The speaker discusses how in the skyless sky the sun does not really set; it is human perception that sees a setting sun. The skyless sky, too, does not knowingly hide behind unaware clouds, and the wind blows with no consciousness of its blowing.
Szymborska shows that the metaphors humans apply to inanimate objects can be misleading. This is even truer when applied to intangible things such as time. “One second” is an arbitrary unit of time, created by humans. Time has no awareness of its own passing; it has no “inner” units of measurement. “Time,” too, is often spoken of in anthropomorphic terms. However, those terms are merely human creations. Time is not a conscious being; that it “rushes by,” for example, is only perceived by humans.
One reason for Szymborska’s influence and popularity is her ability to tackle existential puzzles masterfully in concise, straightforward, and accessible language. In “View with a Grain of Sand,” the puzzle she examines is human perception and communication, especially the making of metaphors. Metaphors are central to reasoning, and essential to the language of poetry.
Bibliography
Baranczak, Stanisław. “The Szymborska Phenomenon.” Salmagundi, no. 103 (Summer, 1994): 252-265. Baranczak, who translated “View with a Grain of Sand” into English, discusses the difficulties of translation, as well as Szymborska’s skillful use of language, the questioning nature of her poems, and her popularity as a poet.
Bojanowska, Edyta M. “Wisława Szymborska: Naturalist and Humanist.” Slavic and East European Journal 41, no. 2 (Summer, 1997): 199-223. Examines Szymborska’s views of nature and humankind, including humankind’s place in nature. Looks at the four major themes found in her nature poems: consciousness, perfection, evolution, and death. Discusses “View with a Grain of Sand.”
Carpenter, Bogdana. “Wisława Szymborska and the Importance of the Unimportant.” World Literature Today 71, no. 1 (Winter, 1997): 8-12. This brief article examines Szymborska’s belief in the significance of the common and the everyday. Also looks at Szymborska’s popularity.
Carpenter, John R. “Three Polish Poets, Two Nobel Prizes.” Kenyon Review 20, no. 1 (Winter, 1998): 153-156. A brief article that examines themes in Szymborska’s poetry. Also reviews the different English translations of her poetry.
Karasek, Krzysztof. “Mozartian Joy: The Poetry of Wisława Szymborska.” In The Mature Laurel: Essays on Modern Polish Poetry, edited by Adam Czerniawski. Chester Springs, Pa.: Seren Books/Dufour, 1991. In this collection of essays on modern Polish poetry, Karasek’s essay explores how each of Szymborska’s poems makes up an autonomous world. Includes a short discussion of “View with a Grain of Sand.”
Kostkawska, Justyna. “’To Persistently Not Know Something Important.’” Feminist Theory 5, no. 2 (2004): 185-203. Argues that Szymborska’s poetic concerns for the ordinary, the unknown, the particular, and the insignificant are common to the practice of feminist science, which also, like Szymborska, values questioning and process over absolute knowledge and finality.
Szymborska, Wisława. “I Don’t Know: The 1996 Nobel Lecture.” World Literature Today 71, no. 1 (Winter, 1997): 5-7. The transcript of Szymborska’s lecture upon receiving the 1996 Nobel Prize in Literature. She discusses her views of poets and poetry.