Zbigniew Herbert (1924-1998)
Mr. Cogito again. This time contemplating Virtue and her failure to seduce ‘real men’.
This is taken from ‘The Collected Poems’ (Atlantic books 2008) a magnificent and dangerous book.
Zbigniew Herbert's 'The Envoy of Mr. Cogito'.
It’s hard to assess poems by a poet who writes in a language that isn’t your own. It’s easy to miss the poetry and be seduced by the content or the attitude. But Herbert is arguably one of the great poets of the twentieth century and by the time he died he was revered in his own country.
This is taken from The Collected Poems, 1956-1998, translated by Alissa Valles and published by Atlantic books. It is probably essential reading for anyone interested in twentieth century European poetry.
I’m apologetic about the way I pronounce his first name, but more of his poems will inevitably appear in later podcasts. Meeting Mr. Cogito is good for you.