“I Thought: Things Will Always Be the Same”. The Conflict of Expectations in Mama by Zbigniew Herbert Cover Image

„Myślałem: nigdy się nie zmieni” – konflikt oczekiwań w Mamie Zbigniewa Herberta
“I Thought: Things Will Always Be the Same”. The Conflict of Expectations in Mama by Zbigniew Herbert

Author(s): Kamil Barski
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature, Polish Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu w Białymstoku
Keywords: poetry; interpretation; family relations; mother; son

Summary/Abstract: The article analyzes and interprets a very important poem by Zbigniew Herbert – Mama from Struna światła (1956). While the work seems to deal with the poet’s personal experience, it can also be read as the universal human immersion in intimacy and separation. The very subtitle of the poem conveys its main assumption. Herbert depicts the relationship with mother as a specific conflict of expectations, in which love possesses and appropriates. The true affection requires approval for independence; unity – paradoxically – requires approval for otherness.

  • Issue Year: 2018
  • Issue No: 12
  • Page Range: 107-122
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: Polish