"Hatred" Wislawa Szymborska - Critical Appreciation

About the Poet: 

Relatively little known beyond her native Poland, Wislawa Szymborska won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1996. Her preoccupation with the actualities of everyday existence, sardonic and funny at times, is tempered by her imagination which is startling and amusing. “Wislawa Szymborska is not only one of the finest poets living today, but also one of the most readable,” says Charles Simic. Her poetry will always be remembered for its wit and wonder. 

An Appreciation of “Hatred”

Hatred is a strong feeling of dislike and it must be eschewed if we are to live in harmony with others. Like envy, hatred fascinates and bewitches us and readily captures our imagination. The Biblical statement condemning hatred is proverbial: “better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.” Hatred, like anger, is a poison tree which we would do without in our orchards.

Adopting a tone of mock adulation, Wislawa Szymborska talks about hatred – its growth, method of operation and the havoc wrought by it. The poem has a conversational ease but beneath it lurks a serious purpose – to expose the evils of hatred.

In the opening stanza hatred is personified and endowed with positive qualities of firm resolve and the wherewithal to achieve the goal. Hatred, which is as old as man himself, is visualized as a hunter (predator) who keeps himself in perfect condition, and with ruthless efficiency tracks us down and pounces upon us, getting past all obstacles. The word “pounces” is significant as it suggests an animal pouncing on its unsuspecting quarry.

Unlike other feelings hatred constantly recharges and renews itself and in that sense it never seems to age. 

Fostered by reasons that it has created, hatred requires no external agency/provocation to sustain it. The emotion of hatred is virtually awake all the time and sleeplessness does not devitalize it, instead it provides it (hatred) with nourishment. The idea is, that hatred is such an all-consuming passion that one is constantly finding reasons to hate. To be more precise, hatred is a reason unto itself and like Satan it never sleeps.

However, it best thrives by fomenting feelings of religious intolerance and narrow nationalism. What probably begins as a fight for justice is soon vitiated by hatred which becomes the governing principle and gains momentum. Everywhere there is the cry of “Hatred. Hatred.” There is in this chant an “erotic ecstasy” and hatred acquires an ugly aspect. (Animosity between India and Pakistan is founded on religious bigotry, and nationalism was one of the causes of the outbreak of the two World Wars.)

In a tone of mock appreciation the poet goes on to suggest that when compared with hatred feelings of compassion and brotherhood are feeble and unexciting and lack the mass appeal that hatred has. In other words, brotherhood and compassion that promote human welfare finish a poor second to hatred that has perfected the art of drawing crowds – the unthinking rabble swayed not by reason but by passion-rousing rhetoric. Hatred is so convincing that it provides no scope for doubt (and this is because it appeals to emotion and not to intellect).

for the complete free notes by Prof. Rajani and Prof. V. Rajagopalan, email this blogger at rufusmcc@gmail.com