WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.500 align:middle line:90% 00:00:00.500 --> 00:00:05.170 align:middle line:84% So there's a poem called "Three Choruses" 00:00:05.170 --> 00:00:13.270 align:middle line:84% from an unwritten drama entitled Hiroshima written in 1948. 00:00:13.270 --> 00:00:15.740 align:middle line:90% But I've taken my time. 00:00:15.740 --> 00:00:17.575 align:middle line:90% So I'll bring you to Europe. 00:00:17.575 --> 00:00:21.250 align:middle line:90% 00:00:21.250 --> 00:00:24.230 align:middle line:84% The long poem that he wrote in 1948, 00:00:24.230 --> 00:00:26.710 align:middle line:84% which was the main reason that we translated this book 00:00:26.710 --> 00:00:30.520 align:middle line:84% was called Traktat Moralny: Treatise on Morals. 00:00:30.520 --> 00:00:34.750 align:middle line:84% Later, he wrote a couple of what one-- 00:00:34.750 --> 00:00:37.090 align:middle line:84% people think is the greatest poem, 00:00:37.090 --> 00:00:38.860 align:middle line:84% it's called "Treatise on Poetry." 00:00:38.860 --> 00:00:41.170 align:middle line:84% And then in the years just before his death, 00:00:41.170 --> 00:00:45.070 align:middle line:84% he wrote a treatise on theology, coming back to something 00:00:45.070 --> 00:00:47.560 align:middle line:84% he wrestled with all his life which is, 00:00:47.560 --> 00:00:51.340 align:middle line:90% if there is no God is there-- 00:00:51.340 --> 00:00:53.050 align:middle line:90% who decides good and evil? 00:00:53.050 --> 00:00:57.340 align:middle line:90% 00:00:57.340 --> 00:01:01.780 align:middle line:84% So this early poem called "Trumped Up Morality"-- 00:01:01.780 --> 00:01:05.480 align:middle line:84% also impossible, because it's written in rhymed couplets. 00:01:05.480 --> 00:01:08.810 align:middle line:84% It was an imitation of a poem of Auden, 00:01:08.810 --> 00:01:11.180 align:middle line:90% written in rhymed couplets. 00:01:11.180 --> 00:01:16.970 align:middle line:84% And as they described to me, the rhythm of a Krakow 00:01:16.970 --> 00:01:19.760 align:middle line:90% cabaret song. 00:01:19.760 --> 00:01:25.830 align:middle line:84% And its subject is, what happens now? 00:01:25.830 --> 00:01:29.250 align:middle line:84% After you can see that now is the memory 00:01:29.250 --> 00:01:33.270 align:middle line:84% of this violence, the survival, guilt, all of it, what's there? 00:01:33.270 --> 00:01:36.540 align:middle line:84% And the poem-- his book of poems from the war 00:01:36.540 --> 00:01:40.710 align:middle line:84% was called Ocalenie which means rescue or salvation, something 00:01:40.710 --> 00:01:41.410 align:middle line:90% like that. 00:01:41.410 --> 00:01:51.350 align:middle line:84% So this poem, "Traktat Moralny," begins, in quotation marks, 00:01:51.350 --> 00:01:57.420 align:middle line:84% "So just what, O poet, did you propose to save? 00:01:57.420 --> 00:02:00.460 align:middle line:90% Can anything save the Earth? 00:02:00.460 --> 00:02:04.240 align:middle line:84% This so-called dawn of peace what is it given us? 00:02:04.240 --> 00:02:07.480 align:middle line:84% A few morning glories among the ashes. 00:02:07.480 --> 00:02:11.890 align:middle line:84% It gave hope bile, the heart cunning, 00:02:11.890 --> 00:02:15.580 align:middle line:84% and I doubt it's aroused much pity." 00:02:15.580 --> 00:02:17.380 align:middle line:90% --is how this begins. 00:02:17.380 --> 00:02:20.170 align:middle line:90% So this is my subject for today. 00:02:20.170 --> 00:02:22.780 align:middle line:84% From you, it will require the discipline 00:02:22.780 --> 00:02:25.000 align:middle line:90% of paring things down. 00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:32.770 align:middle line:84% And then he launches into a 12-page, 400-line poem 00:02:32.770 --> 00:02:36.850 align:middle line:84% in rhymed couplets, that David, when 00:02:36.850 --> 00:02:39.880 align:middle line:84% he was translating with me, was laughing at the rhymes. 00:02:39.880 --> 00:02:43.720 align:middle line:84% Because he would rhyme really a crude word with a high brow 00:02:43.720 --> 00:02:45.550 align:middle line:90% word, and so on. 00:02:45.550 --> 00:02:48.760 align:middle line:84% At the center of the poem, he says, well, there-- 00:02:48.760 --> 00:02:53.380 align:middle line:84% that's what's really come out of the war, three things. 00:02:53.380 --> 00:02:56.320 align:middle line:84% It is, for our morals, are concerned. 00:02:56.320 --> 00:03:01.340 align:middle line:84% Existentialism, phenomenology, and vodka. 00:03:01.340 --> 00:03:08.350 align:middle line:84% And he takes up each subject, and I won't give you-- 00:03:08.350 --> 00:03:11.080 align:middle line:84% I can give you a little flavor of it. 00:03:11.080 --> 00:03:15.070 align:middle line:90% 00:03:15.070 --> 00:03:17.490 align:middle line:84% "I know what sort of temptation awaits us. 00:03:17.490 --> 00:03:19.740 align:middle line:90% The new march sets off John Lee, 00:03:19.740 --> 00:03:23.280 align:middle line:84% The posthumous hiccup of Heidelberg." 00:03:23.280 --> 00:03:26.820 align:middle line:84% Home of-- origin of phenomenology. 00:03:26.820 --> 00:03:29.640 align:middle line:84% "The solace of despairing intellectuals, 00:03:29.640 --> 00:03:34.650 align:middle line:84% In spite of all the Ding an Sich still lingers on in them. 00:03:34.650 --> 00:03:37.290 align:middle line:90% So lost amidst the chaos, 00:03:37.290 --> 00:03:39.600 align:middle line:84% They have grasped at the new manner 00:03:39.600 --> 00:03:42.570 align:middle line:84% And wishing to have something that lasts, 00:03:42.570 --> 00:03:44.130 align:middle line:90% They jump on Sartre. 00:03:44.130 --> 00:03:45.960 align:middle line:90% Et pourquoi? 00:03:45.960 --> 00:03:49.080 align:middle line:84% I will gladly give them the palm of glory, 00:03:49.080 --> 00:03:52.020 align:middle line:84% But these things are not to be had, 00:03:52.020 --> 00:03:54.630 align:middle line:90% Since no one from that formation 00:03:54.630 --> 00:03:58.350 align:middle line:84% Is likely to get off this train at some station, 00:03:58.350 --> 00:04:03.510 align:middle line:84% To amuse himself pleasantly with a butterfly 00:04:03.510 --> 00:04:07.340 align:middle line:84% For catching being and non-being." 00:04:07.340 --> 00:04:08.600 align:middle line:90% And you get the tone. 00:04:08.600 --> 00:04:13.690 align:middle line:90% 00:04:13.690 --> 00:04:16.839 align:middle line:84% The part-- just give a little of the flavor of it. 00:04:16.839 --> 00:04:19.479 align:middle line:84% The part about vodka, which is quite striking. 00:04:19.479 --> 00:04:27.650 align:middle line:90% 00:04:27.650 --> 00:04:29.660 align:middle line:84% "You have probably already noticed 00:04:29.660 --> 00:04:31.730 align:middle line:90% I stress your way of life, 00:04:31.730 --> 00:04:34.770 align:middle line:84% Since this is where you spend your time. 00:04:34.770 --> 00:04:39.890 align:middle line:84% So my people, let's talk about alcohol. 00:04:39.890 --> 00:04:43.460 align:middle line:84% Poland bows down in difficult times, 00:04:43.460 --> 00:04:46.040 align:middle line:90% With little jokes and anecdotes 00:04:46.040 --> 00:04:49.970 align:middle line:84% Before the idols of vodka and kielbasa. 00:04:49.970 --> 00:04:53.390 align:middle line:84% Nostalgic for the mead of the old nobility 00:04:53.390 --> 00:04:56.390 align:middle line:84% And before tears and after tears, 00:04:56.390 --> 00:04:59.390 align:middle line:84% It reels in Earth's Slavonic fashion 00:04:59.390 --> 00:05:02.390 align:middle line:84% And toting up its poverty and hiccups, 00:05:02.390 --> 00:05:07.240 align:middle line:84% Finds a multitude of reasons for boasting. 00:05:07.240 --> 00:05:10.480 align:middle line:84% The phenomenon of vodka is interesting, 00:05:10.480 --> 00:05:12.970 align:middle line:84% It would be worth a dissertation. 00:05:12.970 --> 00:05:15.610 align:middle line:90% Of all drinks, vodka alone 00:05:15.610 --> 00:05:19.900 align:middle line:84% Is akin to the fumes of extermination. 00:05:19.900 --> 00:05:23.800 align:middle line:84% In it, you can see the shimmer of burning cities. 00:05:23.800 --> 00:05:26.920 align:middle line:84% Through its thin glass, the convicts go. 00:05:26.920 --> 00:05:29.200 align:middle line:84% And when the houses hiss at night, 00:05:29.200 --> 00:05:32.560 align:middle line:84% And the fire is a pupil in the eyes of the windows. 00:05:32.560 --> 00:05:36.070 align:middle line:84% The Brothers Karamazov with grim faces 00:05:36.070 --> 00:05:38.980 align:middle line:90% Have sat down to a lit leader. 00:05:38.980 --> 00:05:43.900 align:middle line:84% And the smell of formic acid rises from an antheap 00:05:43.900 --> 00:05:46.670 align:middle line:84% And grows stronger in the summer heat. 00:05:46.670 --> 00:05:50.410 align:middle line:84% So the odor from these misfortunate lands 00:05:50.410 --> 00:05:53.590 align:middle line:84% Gives a signal to travelers coming from afar. 00:05:53.590 --> 00:05:55.900 align:middle line:84% And although it may seem strange to you 00:05:55.900 --> 00:05:57.940 align:middle line:90% That I waste my time and energy, 00:05:57.940 --> 00:06:01.390 align:middle line:84% Making verse about this non-conpulsory ego, 00:06:01.390 --> 00:06:06.980 align:middle line:84% The question, though it not primary, matters. 00:06:06.980 --> 00:06:08.700 align:middle line:90% Attend to it." 00:06:08.700 --> 00:06:10.880 align:middle line:84% So you see the tone of this poem. 00:06:10.880 --> 00:06:14.720 align:middle line:84% The other part of the poem is don't trust bureaucrats, 00:06:14.720 --> 00:06:17.320 align:middle line:84% and that was what got him in trouble.