Herbert, Zbigniew (1924–1998)

Polish poet and essayist. His poetry, avant-garde, ironic, and formally accomplished, achieved classical precision and control amidst and against the observed chaos of Poland's human suffering. He published few poems in the communist-inspired epoch of socialist realism (1949–54) but his collection Struna światła/Chord of Light (1956) was soon followed by Hermes, pies i gwiazda/Hermes, a Dog and a Star 1957 and Studium przedmiotu/A Study of the Object 1961. He also wrote plays for broadcasting and essays on art, culture, and history. Amongst his greatest accomplishments are volumes Wiersze wybrane/Selected Poems (1977), Raport z oblȩzonego miasta/Report from the Besieged City (1987), Pan Cogito/Mr Cogito (1993), and Epilog burzy/Epilogue after the Storm (1998).