In both poems, the dissatisfaction with the impersonal nature of history manifests itself through the inclusion of seemingly inconsequential events that are nevertheless valuable to the speaker. Through repetition and relearning in Rozewicz’s poem and through omission of personal detail in Szymborska’s, each speaker attempts to emphasize the worth of everyday occurrences that, while maybe not heavily influencing society, nevertheless hold personal meaning and define us as individual human beings.
“In the Middle of Life”
This poem describes one man’s transition back into life after “the end of the world,” which could be interpreted as a warlike crisis that took over his life and left him unfamiliar with human values. The event that caused the speaker’s “death,” which was overwhelming and reduced the importance of everyday activity, could be compared to the detachment and indifference of history towards small events in life.
Although the things described in the poem (like a father picking up an apple) have virtually no value when looked at in the context of history, they have personal meaning and worth to the individual. Throughout the poem, the speaker repeats various phrases in an attempt to relearn standards and habits of society as well as the value of human life. Practical aspects of life are repeated simply so as to redevelop familiarity – for example, the phrases “this is a table” or “this is water” use simple, matter-of-fact diction to reorient the speaker with his surroundings – while deeper and more complex concepts are given more direction and emphasis in their description. It can be inferred that the ideas represented by the most emphasized phrases are ones that he has somehow lost in his previous life and is now trying to regain.
The purpose of all of these repetitions could be to reestablish the worth of the individual and of small, daily events, which had previously been stripped away by whatever had preceded this new life of the speaker. One realization of the significance of the small presents itself in the description of the old woman, who “is more necessary / and more precious / than the seven wonders of the world / whoever thinks and feels / that she is not necessary / he is guilty of genocide.”
Here, the speaker has used extreme diction, in which the word “genocide” strongly solidifies his statement, to convey his idea that human life is greater than any object, no matter how celebrated it might be. Even though she is merely an old woman, someone who might be viewed as useless or unimportant in the larger scheme of society or history, the simple fact that she is a human being is enough to render her necessary and worthy of awareness, consequently reinforcing the importance of everyday human life.
“Writing a Résumé”
This importance is also exemplified in “Writing a Résumé“ by Szymborska, which is essentially a set of instructions on how to reduce life to a simple, factual account that is devoid of personal meaning. The speaker describes things that matter to the individual in contrast with those that matter to whoever reads the résumé; this unseen reader, who is not directly mentioned in the poem, could serve as a parallel to the readers and writers of history, who are perhaps more interested in quantifiable data than the significance behind it. She expresses this idea by saying, “Of all your loves, mention only the marriage, / Of all your children, only those who were born.” These two lines illustrate the large disparity between the facts that must be given and the whole truth.
Despite how vital the speaker’s previous loves might have been in shaping her as a person, the only one that “counts” in a factual sense is her marriage, because it has been recorded and documented. This idea of marriage’s legal significance fits in well within the context of a résumé since some job applications require this information for income or tax purposes – consequently, something that holds strong emotional value for the speaker is reduced to a trivial fill-in-the-blank that the résumé reader must record before moving onto other factual details.
The speaker is distressed by this uncaring attitude and becomes bitter, using irony and sarcasm to demonstrate how the apparently insignificant details in everyday life are important because they have influence and provide happiness for the individual. She writes, “Pass over in silence your dogs, cats, birds, / dusty keepsakes, friends, and dreams.” Despite the fact that all of these things both make the speaker happy and render her unique as an individual, she instructs that one should “pass [them] over in silence,” a seemingly inconsistent piece of advice.
However, she is using this sarcastic tone to convey how unempathetic society can be, and how most people who read her résumé would not stop to consider her as a human being, but rather as a set of facts. By giving contradictory and somewhat ironic advice, the speaker is able to convey her true belief that these small things are more valuable to her than the emotionless facts that she would write on a résumé.
Conclusion
Recognizing people as other human beings is a common theme that runs throughout each poem, along with the idea that it is everyday life that allows us to remain as individuals. In Rozewicz’s poem, it can be seen in the speaker’s inclusion of his father picking up a ripened apple, an occurrence that history or society would view as essentially pointless, but one that still illustrates the value of everyday life for the speaker.
Similarly, in Szymborska’s “Writing a Résumé,” the speaker uses irony to express how, when writing in this way with omission of any personal detail, it is impossible to convey one’s true personality or individuality. Although the style here is different from the direct, repetitive insistence of “In the Middle of Life,” the speakers in both poems are stressing the significance of the small events that shape us as individual human beings.
