Poetry
The first poems by Zbigniew Herbert were published in Dziś i jutro (#37, 1950). Poems entitled: Napis (Inscription), Pożegnanie września and Złoty środek were printed, however, without the permission of the author. The real debut occurred at the end of the same year with the publishing of a poem without a title (Palce wrzeciona dźwięków…) in Tygodnik Powszechny (#51). Prior to 1955 the poet published some of his works in that newspaper; however, he kept out of the literary environment. Not having the opportunity to publish his own volume of poetry, he decided to publish 22 poems in an anthology of modern Catholic poetry, …każdej chwili wybierać muszę… (Warsaw, 1954).
Herbert was introduced to a wider audience in Premiera pięciu poetów (The debut of five poets) in the magazine Życie Literackie (#51, December 1955). He was presented together with other young poets, such as Miron Białoszewski, Bohdan Drozdowski, Stanisław Czycz and Jerzy Harasymowicz. In 1956 he published his debut book of poetry Struna światła (Chord of Light) and a year later a further volume Hermes, pies i gwiazda (Hermes, Dog and Star). Herbert's relatively late debut meant that he belonged to the modern generation in literature which appeared after 1956, whereas biographically he belonged to the same generation as Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński and Tadeusz Różewicz.
Another two books of poetry: Studium przedmiotu (Study of the Object) and Napis (Inscription) were published in 1961 and 1969. In 1974 the main character from another book of poetry Pan Cogito (Mr. Cogito) appeared in Polish culture. The character of Pan Cogito also appeared in later works of the author. Herbert liked to use poetic personae (which cannot be identified with the author) and multistage irony – the introduction of a character favoured the game played by the author between himself and the reader.
In 1983 the Literary Institute in Paris published another book of poetry by Herbert entitled Raport z oblężonego Miasta i inne wiersze (Report from a Besieged City and Other Poems). In Poland it was reprinted by underground publishing houses. The time and the circumstances favored a literal understanding of the poem's title, which led to simplistic interpretations of the poem. Another book of poems Elegia na odejście (Elegy for the Departure) (1990) was also published in Paris. In 1992, back in Poland, Herbert published Rovigo (Wrocław). Finally, the poet's last work, Epilog burzy (Epilogue to a Storm), came out shortly before his death.
Herbert often uses elements of mythology, medieval heroes and works of art in his writing, which attracted the attention of the critics. Those elements, however, are not the dead parts of literary convention. Herbert uses the mechanism of special demythologization – he tries to get rid of any cultural layers (if possible) and reach the prototypes, face the antique heroes. In his literary output the past is not treated as something distant or closed – revived characters and events make possible an attempt at understanding not only history but also the current moment. The past is a measure of the present.
In Herbert's poetry there is no consistent historiosophic conception. Quite the opposite – there is a clear rejection of systems which clarify everything, which explain a course of events as the inevitable logic of history. Everything that can be said about history is a result of a simple observation – namely, that history is (or at least has been so far) an area where evil is rife, which is accompanied by a handful of indomitable people constantly opposed to it. An individual is not able to change the course of history, but is obliged to put up a hopeless resistance despite everything. The ethical base of Herbert's artistic work constitutes the conviction that the justice of a particular matter, and the actions taken in its defence, do not depend on the chance of victory. This pathetic message is accompanied by an ironic consciousness of the fact that it is delivered in a not very heroic period – a period in which a potential hero is exposed not so much to martyrdom as to ridicule. Characteristic of the contemporary world is a fuzzy borderline between good and evil, the degeneration of language, which deprives words of their clear-cut nature, and the common debasement of values. Contemporary evil is not demonic and cannot be easily defined. The hero, being aware of his own ridiculousness, provokes critical situations not only to preserve the faithfulness of the message but also in order to provoke and force evil to reveal its real nature.
But this hard assessment of the present does not mean idealizing history. The experiences of the last war have put an end to the naïve perception of the past. The exposer's suspicion arises because visions of history are created usually by the winners' chroniclers. Therefore, "what lies under the fresco" (Przemiany Liwiusza — Transformations of Livy) must be diligently analyzed. The monumental picture of ancient heroes may be false, or in other ways – it can be based on judging criteria, which should not be acknowledged uncritically. It may be the vanquished who are entitled to our solidarity.
In Herbert's view the field of history, although perhaps the easiest one on which to make observations, is not the only one in which evil reveals itself. The presence of evil entails the question of life's meaning and order, and of the presence of God in the world. The history of literature has not yet settled the dispute over the sacred in Herbert's poetry. In his earliest volumes one can see two completely different images of God: at one point he is almighty, cold, perfect and remote, at another rendered powerless by descending from heaven Kapłan (Priest), Rozmyślania Pana Cogito o odkupieniu (Mr. Cogito's Reflections on Redemption). The first God is rather disliked, like all abstractions; everything that is valued in this poetry is small, tangible and close. After all, it is nothing else but the senses, especially the most unerring touch, which give us the most reliable support in everyday life. Moreover, in this poetry, one has never reconciled oneself to the collapse of the sacred, or to the world of chaos. Against everything, being loyal – even to the dead God – make sense. For want of any other refuge, we are supposed to seek the power within us to save the world from chaos and nothingness Napis (Inscription).
In his later works, there are fewer such pagan declarations, yet the need for reconciliation is articulated more and more clearly. Compared to the poems from Epilog Burzy (Epilogue to the Storm) and his previous works, Puste Niebo Pana Cogito was not well received by critics.
In his works he presents a perspective of 'intellectual reflection', with a stress on human beings and their dignity, on the background of history, where people are almost irrelevant cogs in the machine of fate. He often used elements of Mediterranean culture in his works.
"Herbert's steadily detached, ironic and historically minded style represents, I suppose, a form of classicism. But it is a one-sided classicism (....) In a way, Herbert's poetry is typical of the whole Polish attitude to their position within the communist bloc; independent, brilliant, ironic, wary, a bit contemptuous, pained." – A. Alvarez, Under Pressure (1965)
"If the key to contemporary Polish poetry is the selective experience of the last decades, Herbert is perhaps the most skillful in expressing it and can be called a poet of historical irony. He achieves a sort of precarious equilibrium by endowing the patterns of civilization with meanings, in spite of all its horrors." – Czesław Miłosz, Postwar Polish Poetry (3rd ed., 1983)
"There is little doubt that at this writing Zbigniew Herbert is the most admired and respected poet now living in Poland. (...) Polish readers have always revered poets who succeed in defining the nation's spiritual dilemma; what is exceptional in Herbert is that his popularity at home is matched by a wide acclaim abroad." – Stanisław Barańczak, A Fugitive from Utopia (1987)
In modern poetry, Herbert advocated semantic transparency. In a talk given at a conference organized by the journal "Odra" he said:
"So not having pretensions to infallibility, but stating only my predilections, I would like to say that in contemporary poetry the poems that appeal to me the most are those in which I discern something I would call a quality of semantic transparency (a term borrowed from Husserl's logic). This semantic transparency is the characteristic of a sign consisting in this: that during the time when the sign is used, attention is directed towards the object denoted, and the sign itself does not hold the attention. The word is a window onto reality."
