WHY THE CLASSICS

1

in the fourth book of the Peloponnesian War
Thucydides tells among other things
the story of his unsuccessful expedition
among long speeches of chiefs

battles sieges plague
dense net of intrigues of diplomatic endeavours
the episode is like a pin
in a forest

the Greek colony Amphipolis
fell into the hands of Brasidos
because Thucydides was late with relief
for this he paid his native city
with lifelong exile

exiles of all times
know what price that is

2

generals of the most recent wars
if a similar affair happens to them
whine on their knees before posterity
praise their heroism and innocence

they accuse their subordinates
envious colleagues
unfavourable winds

Thucydides says only
that he had seven ships
it was winter
and he sailed quickly

3

if art for its subject
will have a broken jar
a small broken soul
with a great self-pity

what will remain after us
will be like lovers' weeping
in a small dirty hotel
when wallpaper dawns

Zbigniew Herbert 

WHY THE CLASSICS

I  CHOSE THIS POEM (1) after some hesitation. I do not consideration the best poem I've written, nor is it one that can represent my poetic program. I think it does have two virtues: it is simple, dry, and speaks of matters that are truly close to my heart, without superfluous ornament or stylization.
    The poem has a three-part structure. In the first part, it speaks of an event taken from the work of a classical author. It is, as it were, a note on my reading. In the second part I transfer the event to contemporary times to elicit a tension, a clash, to reveal an essential difference in attitude an behavior. Finally, the third part contains a conclusion or moral, and also transposes the problem from the sphere of history to the sphere of art.
    You don't have to be a great expert on contemporary literature to notice its characteristic feature-the eruption of despair and unbelief. All the fundamental values of European culture have been drawn into question. Thousands of novels, plays, and epic poems speak of an inevitable annihilation, of life's meaninglessness, the absurdity of human existence. I don't mean to subject pessimism to easy ridicule if it is a response to evil in the world. However, I think that the black tone of contemporary literature has its source in the attitude its writers take to reality. And that is what I tried to attack in my poem.
    The Romantic view of the poet who bares his wounds, relates his misfortunes, still has many supporters today, despite changes in style and literary taste. It is universally held that the artist has a sacred right to ostentatious subjectivism, to a display of the tender "I." If a school of literature existed, one of its basic exercises should be description not of dreams but of objects. Beyond the artist's reach, a world unfolds- difficult, dark, but real. One should not lose the faith that it can be captured in words, that justice can be rendered it.
    Very early on, near the beginning of my writing life, I came to believe I hat I had to seize on some object outside of literature. Writing as a stylistic exercise seemed barren to me. Poetry as the art of the word made me yawn. I also understood that I couldn't sustain myself very long on the poems of others. I had to go out from myself and literature, look around in the world and lay hold of other spheres of reality.
    Philosophy gave me the courage to ask primary questions, fundamental, basic questions: does the world exist, what is its essence, and can it be known? If this discipline can be made useful to poetry it is not by translating systems but by recreating the drama of thought.
    I do not turn to history to draw from it an easy lesson of hope, but to confront my experience with that of others, to acquire something I might call universal compassion, and also a sense of responsibility, responsibility for the state of my conscience.
    It is an old dream of poets that their work may become a concrete object like a stone or a tree, that what they make from the material of language- itself subject to constant change-may acquire a lasting existence. One of the ways to achieve this, it seems to me, is to cast it far away from oneself, to erase the ties that connect it to its creator. This is how I understand Flaubert's recommendation: "The artist must be in his work as God is in nature."

1966?

(1)

"Why the Classics": see Collected Poems 1956-1998, p. 266-267.

Zbigniew Herbert
Why The Classics

Tại sao những nhà cổ điển.

Tôi chọn bài thơ này sau tí ngần ngừ. Tôi không coi dây là bài thơ bảnh nhất của tôi, cũng không coi nó đại diện cho chương trình thơ tôi. Tôi nghĩ, nó có hai đức hạnh: giản dị, khô ráo, và “nói lên” vấn đề rất cận kề trái tim tôi, đếch cần hoa lá cành, hay văn vẻ.
….

Cái nhìn của chủ nghĩa lãng mạn, nhà thơ phải phơi trần vết thương của mình ra, kể lể về những bất hạnh, [về nỗi cô đơn của bầy ngựa hoang, thân  phận nhược tiểu da vàng...  trong cuộc chiến Mít, thí dụ] vuỡn còn được nhiều người hưởng ứng vào những ngày này, mặc dù những thay đổi về văn phong, và khiếu thưởng ngoạn.
Phổ cập mà nói, thì "nó" [chủ nghĩa vãi linh hồn] phán, nghệ sĩ có quyền thiêng liêng với cái chủ quan, tao là bố thiên hạ, tao số 1....