Tuwim, Julian - Polish Flowers

Before you are poetic flowers - “Polish Flowers” (Kwiaty polskie) - gathered by Julian Tuwim (1894–1953) in the fields and meadows, in the forests and gardens of Poland. Harmoniously arranged into bouquets, adorned with talent and tied together by diligent hands, they give us a vivid image of Poland, a broad picture of the country’s life in the first four decades of the past century with all its age-old and temporary problems.

The dear image of the homeland—when “it is within you, in every drop of blood!”—strengthened by the pain of forced separation from it during the Second World War, is central to the poem. Do not look in the book for a traditional plot. There is none. Like a bouquet, the poem creates unity from many different blossoms—lyrical and journalistic, hymnic and elegiac—colored by Tuwim’s unique irony, cheerful humor, laughter through tears, merciless sarcasm, and lyrical tenderness. The poem is full of turbulent life—public and private, the poet’s own personal experiences, memories from childhood, stories about friends and enemies, and reflections on poetry and art, on good and evil. - Vasil Siomucha