The End and the Beginning

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2001

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Poem Analysis

Themes

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Further Reading & Resources

Related Poems

"Photograph from September 11" by Wisława Szymborska (2005)

“Photograph from September 11” was originally published in Szymborska’s 2005 collection of poetry, Monologue of a Dog, and translated into English by Clare Cavanagh. The poem shares many of the same thematic elements present within “The End and the Beginning,” and attempts to humanize large-scale tragedy by centering the affected United States citizens within the narrative of the poem. “Photograph from September 11” grapples with the terrorist attacks committed in New York and Washington, DC, on the same date in 2001. Szymborska focuses on the miniscule details of this tragedy that often go unnoticed, concentrating on the preservation of life instead of detailing the explicit gore of the event. “Photograph from September 11” is written in the same style as “The End and the Beginning,” looking at tragedy from a unique, nuanced angle.

"Identification" by Wisława Szymborska (2010)

Szymborska’s piercing poem “Identification” first appeared in her 2010 collection, Here, translated from Polish into English by Clare Cavanagh and Stanislaw Baranczak. The speaker of the poem is a woman who recently lost her husband in an unexpected plane crash. The speaker delays her own confrontation with grief, convincing herself that it must have been someone else that passed away. “Identification” uses the ordinary to discuss the extraordinary, humanizing tragedy in the same way “The End and the Beginning” does through the domestic and mundane conversation the speaker has with a friend. The traumatic event is distant from the events of the poem itself, making it thematically and tonally similar to “The End and the Beginning.”

"On Death, without Exaggeration" by Wisława Szymborska (1986)

Much of Szymborska’s poetry deals with themes of terror and war. “On Death, without Exaggeration” is no exception. This poem was translated by Clare Cavanagh and Stanislaw Baranczak for Szymborska’s 1986 collection, The People on the Bridge, and discusses how little power death actually has over life. Szymborska leans into the figurative in this piece, employing the same types of metaphor, personification, and connotation found in the final stanzas of “The End and the Beginning” to extend the poem’s meaning beyond the literal.

Further Literary Resources

"Regarding the Torture of Others" by Susan Sontag (2004)

“Regarding the Torture of Others” is a critical essay by American author and activist Susan Sontag, detailing the camera’s position in culture. In 2004, horrifying images began to emerge from Abu Ghraib, one of Saddam Hussein’s most gruesome prisons (under United States control), that depicted US soldiers torturing Iraqis in humiliating and deeply violent ways.

In this essay, Sontag is extremely critical of the Bush Administration’s reaction to the images from Abu Ghraib, questioning why the Administration was shocked by the images themselves instead of by the crimes they depicted. “Regarding the Torture of Others” makes readers aware of the active participant behind the camera, complicit in the violence they are recording by snapping photos of the torture of others instead of intervening. Despite its American context, Sontag’s essay speaks directly to Szymborska’s own critique of the news media in “The End and the Beginning,” showing how the camera is weaponized against vulnerable populations.

The Female Persona in Wisława Szymborska’s Poems by Bożena Karwowska (2015)

Literary critic Bożena Karwowska discusses the various features of Szymborska’s poetry, including persona, irony, and wit, as well as her concept of the domestic sphere, in “The Female Persona in Wisława Szymborska’s Poems.” Karwowska exposes how Szymborska’s work transcends both patriarchal and feminist categorizations by refusing to be bound by historical context alone. By weaving biographical elements into her historic war poetry, Szymborska adds a much-needed female perspective into the otherwise male dominated genre of war poetry, examining trauma from the perspective of the people experiencing it. “The Female Persona in Wisława Szymborska’s Poems” serves as an excellent educational tool to understand poems like “The End and the Beginning” more thoroughly.

"No Woman’s Land" by Tom Walsh in collaboration with Zoo Indigo (2016)

The documentary No Woman’s Land was born out of performer, writer, and lecturer Dr. Ildiko Rippel’s family history. In 1945, Rippel’s grandmother was displaced from her home following World War II, forced to travel across the decimated European landscape in search of a safe haven with only her two young children and a small cart of belongings in tow. In 2015, Rippel retraced her grandmother’s journey, creating a documentary to discuss the aftermath of war, displacement, gender identity, and migration. Experiences like those depicted in No Woman’s Land are what influenced much of Szymborska’s war poetry, creating the overarching message that just because something is ordinary, it does not mean it’s not important.

Listen to Poem

Dr. Ildiko Rippel reads "The End and the Beginning" by Wisława Szymborska

Performer, writer, and lecturer Dr. Ildiko Rippel gives voice to Wisława Szymborska’s poem, “The End and the Beginning,” featured in the documentary No Woman’s Land (2016).