‘In the same unnamed service’. About two poems (To Allen Ginsbergby Czesław Miłosz and To Yusef Komunyakaa by Janusz Szuber) addressed to American poets

Abstract

Poems addressed to other poets have a long tradition in literature and have their own special tasks. They can be used to express appreciation, reflection on poetry itself, attempts to grasp its meaning, comparison of one’s own work with the recipient’s achievements, and finally a comprehensive assessment of one’s achieve-ments, which may result from contact with someone else’s writing. The article presents a discussion of two poems by Polish authors addressed to American poets. The poems by Czesław Miłosz and Janusz Szuber ad-dressed to American poets are an example of a dialogue between culturally and artistically distant authors, formed in different literary traditions and representing different creative attitudes. Their European cultural origins and the associated sense of identity influence a different way of practising poetry than in the case of Allen Gins-berg or Yusef Komunyakaa. In the analysis of both works, both differences and areas of common experience are mentioned. The dialogue with American poets enables them, above all, to look at their own poetry, capture its most important features, and verify their attitudes to art and life.