Notes on the margins of two poems by Tadeusz Różewicz

Abstract

The subject of my notes is two late poems by Tadeusz Różewicz, poems concerning fundamental Różewicz's problems: death and the condition of contemporary man. The first part of notes brings a brief attempt to identify the key messages and contexts of the poem Wrota śmierci ("Gates of Death"), dedicated to the memory of Henryk Bereska, who died in 2005. The second part is an attempt to interpret the poem bez tytułu ("untitled"), in which the poet – as if making a balance or summary – wrote the essence of his views on the nature of contemporary man.