{"id":19246,"date":"2025-11-24T18:15:44","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T17:15:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/?p=19246"},"modified":"2026-01-20T17:44:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T16:44:06","slug":"czeslaw-milosz-the-poets-spiritual-quest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2025\/11\/24\/czeslaw-milosz-the-poets-spiritual-quest\/","title":{"rendered":"Czes\u0142aw Mi\u0142osz \u2013 The Poet\u2019s Spiritual Quest"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Polish Poetry Unites<\/em><\/strong><\/a> is\u202fa video series for anyone interested in literature, history and reading. In each episode Edward Hirsch<\/strong><\/a>, a distinguished American poet, and the president of the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, will introduce a celebrated Polish poet to American audiences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Watch the episode<\/a><\/strong> on YouTube<\/a><\/strong> channel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

This episode of Polish Poetry Unites<\/strong><\/a> introduces to American audiences the life and work of Czes\u0142aw Mi\u0142osz<\/a><\/strong>, 1980 Nobel Prize Winner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the foreword by Edward Hirsch, the video showcases the Mi\u0142osz\u2019s famous poem \u201cMeaning\u201d presented by Ewa Ju\u0144czyk-Ziomecka from Warsaw. The poem was translated from the Polish by Czes\u0142aw Mi\u0142osz and Robert Hass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edward Hirsch who knew Mi\u0142osz personally says: \u201cCzeslaw Milosz is a towering figure of not just Polish literature, but world literature. And it’s impossible to summarize him in a very short amount of time. It’s a big life, big project. I\u2019ll just say a few things that seem to me to me about him.\u201d (\u2026) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later Hirsch continues: \u201cHe first came into my consciousness when he came to the United States. He started teaching in the Slavic department at Berkeley When I was 23, I discovered his selected poems. This is the book, that was his first book that made an impact in the United States and an impact on me. The second thing was, while he was at Berkeley, he tried to cheer himself up and he wrote a history of Polish literature. This is my copy. And from this history of Polish literature, that’s how I learned everything. This was my portal. This was our portal. This is how I heard about Herbert<\/strong><\/a>. This is how I heard about R\u00f3\u017cewicz<\/strong><\/a>. This is how I heard about Szymborska<\/strong><\/a>. And this is how I heard about the generation before him like a poet who’s been important to me, Aleksander Wat<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Milosz\u2019s project of explaining Polish literature was also a project of how what happened to the poet in Poland was a laboratory for what happened in Europe and what happened in the rest of the world, and he had a series of Cassandra like warnings about the ahistoricism of the United States. And he was shocked by the indifference of the US to what had happened in Europe. And he began to sound the cry, both in his own poems and in his writings about Polish literature and about literature in general. He gave a series of lectures at Harvard called The Witness of Poetry<\/em>, in which he argued for poetry’s historical importance and how poetry witnessed events.                                  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mi\u0142osz was a poet who constantly warned about history and how we needed to learn from history, but who also wanted to transcend history, who wanted to go to, think about other things, eternal values. And this is where the wonderful poem \u201cMeaning\u201d comes in, that’s featured in the film, because this shows the religious quest that’s in in Milosz\u2019s  work, his longing for something beyond something that would make sense, some world beyond this world that would make sense of all the chaos, make sense of all the destruction, that something would suddenly come into order. (\u2026)\u201d

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Czes\u0142aw Mi\u0142osz, MEANING<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

–       When I die, I will see
the lining of the world.
The other side,
beyond bird, mountain, sunset.
The true meaning, ready to be decoded.
What never added up will add up,
What was incomprehensible
will be comprehended.
–       And if there is no lining
to the world?
If a thrush on a branch is not a sign,
But just a thrush on the branch?
If night and day
Make no sense following each other?
And on this earth, there is nothing
except this earth?
–       Even if that is so,
there will remain
A word wakened by lips
that perish,
A tireless messenger who runs and runs
Through interstellar fields,
through the revolving galaxies,
And calls out, protests, screams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Translated from the Polish by Czes\u0142aw Mi\u0142osz and Robert Hass.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n

Czes\u0142aw Mi\u0142osz, SENS<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Kiedy umr\u0119, zobacz\u0119 podszewk\u0119 \u015bwiata.
Drug\u0105 stron\u0119, za ptakiem, g\u00f3r\u0105 i zachodem s\u0142o\u0144ca.
Wzywaj\u0105ce odczytania prawdziwe znaczenie.
Co si\u0119 nie zgadza\u0142o, b\u0119dzie si\u0119 zgadza\u0142o.
Co by\u0142o niepoj\u0119te, b\u0119dzie poj\u0119te.
– A je\u017celi nie ma podszewki \u015bwiata?
Je\u017celi drozd na ga\u0142\u0119zi nie jest wcale znakiem
Tylko drozdem na ga\u0142\u0119zi, je\u017celi dzie\u0144 i noc
Nast\u0119puj\u0105 po sobie nie dbaj\u0105c o sens
I nie ma nic na tej ziemi, pr\u00f3cz tej ziemi?

– Gdyby tak by\u0142o, to jednak zostanie
S\u0142owo raz obudzone przez nietrwa\u0142e usta,
Kt\u00f3re biegnie i biegnie, pose\u0142 niestrudzony,
Na mi\u0119dzygwiezdne pola, w ko\u0142owr\u00f3t galaktyk
I protestuje, wo\u0142a, krzyczy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Czes<\/strong>\u0142aw Mi\u0142osz<\/strong> (born June 30, 1911, \u0160eteniai, Lithuania, Russian Empire [now in Lithuania]\u2014died August 14, 2004, Krak\u00f3w, Poland) was a Polish American poet, novelist, translator, critic, and diplomat who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1980. He was cited then as a writer \u201cwho with uncompromising clear-sightedness voices man\u2019s exposed condition in a world of severe conflicts.\u201d Mi\u0142osz\u2019s writing examines the impact of repressive regimes and systems such as national socialism and communism on the human spirit. He was foremost a poet, but his best-known work is the essay collection The Captive Mind (1953).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The son of a civil engineer, Mi\u0142osz completed his university studies in Wilno (now Vilnius, Lithuania), which belonged to Poland between the two World Wars. His first book of verse, Poemat o czasie zastyg\u0142ym (1933; \u201cPoem of Frozen Time\u201d), expresses catastrophic fears of an impending war and worldwide disaster. During the Nazi occupation he moved to Warsaw, where he was active in the resistance and edited Pie\u015b\u0144 niepodleg\u0142a: poezja polska czasu wojny (1942; \u201cIndependent Song: Polish Wartime Poetry\u201d), a clandestine anthology of well-known contemporary poems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mi\u0142osz\u2019s collection Ocalenie (1945; \u201cRescue\u201d) contains his prewar poems and those written during the occupation. In the same year, he joined the Polish diplomatic service and was sent, after briefly working during 1946 in the Polish embassy in New York City, to Washington, D.C., as cultural attach\u00e9, and then to Paris, as first secretary for cultural affairs in Paris. There he asked for political asylum in 1951. Nine years later he immigrated to the United States, where he joined the faculty of the University of California at Berkeley and taught Slavic languages and literature until his retirement in 1980. Mi\u0142osz became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1970.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until 1980, when Mi\u0142osz was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, his work was banned in Poland because of his defiance of the country\u2019s communist government. Yet he was widely admired there, and many underground editions of his poetry collections were printed. His winning the Nobel Prize led the Polish government to authorize an anthology of his poems, which sold a remarkable 200,000 copies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are several volumes of English translations of Mi\u0142osz\u2019s poetry, including The Collected Poems 1931\u20131987 (1988) and Provinces (1991). His prose works include his autobiography, Rodzinna Europa (1959; Native Realm), Prywatne obowi\u0105zki (1972; \u201cPrivate Obligations\u201d), the novel Dolina Issy (1955; The Issa Valley), and The History of Polish Literature (1969).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though Mi\u0142osz was primarily a poet, his best-known work became his collection of essays Zniewolony umys\u0142 (1953; The Captive Mind), in which he condemns the accommodation of many Polish intellectuals to communism. This theme is also present in his novel Zdobycie w\u0142adzy (1955; The Seizure of Power). His poetic works are noted for their classical style and their preoccupation with philosophical and political issues. An important example is Traktat poetycki (1957; Treatise on Poetry), which combines a defense of poetry with a history of Poland from 1918 to the 1950s. The critic Helen Vendler wrote that this long poem seemed to her \u201cthe most comprehensive and moving poem\u201d of the latter half of the 20th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2001 Mi\u0142osz published To Begin Where I Am, a collection of autobiographical essays, and New and Collected Poems: 1931\u20132001. Both books contain English translations of new and earlier pieces. Many other collections appeared after his death in 2004. Some of his earlier poems were translated into English in Poet in the New World (2025), edited by Robert Hass and David Frick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Source \u2013 Britannica)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The POLISH POETRY UNITES episode about Czes\u0142aw Mi\u0142osz was produced with additional support from:\u00a0the Museum of Literature in Warsaw and New York Women in Film & Television<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lead image: Czes\u0142aw Mi\u0142osz, fot. SIPA \/ East News
Bio image: Czes\u0142aw Mi\u0142osz, fot. AKG Images \/ East News<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moderator: Edward Hirsch<\/em>
Writer and Director: Ewa Zadrzy<\/em>\u0144<\/em>ska
Curator and Executive Producer: Bartek Remisko<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Polish Poetry Unites is\u202fa video series for anyone interested in literature, history and reading. In each episode Edward Hirsch, a distinguished American poet, and the president of the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, will introduce a celebrated Polish poet to American audiences. Watch the episode on YouTube channel. This episode of Polish Poetry Unites introduces to American audiences […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":202,"featured_media":19248,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","category-literature"],"yoast_head":"\nCzes\u0142aw Mi\u0142osz \u2013 The Poet\u2019s Spiritual Quest - Instytut Polski w Nowym Jorku<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2025\/11\/24\/czeslaw-milosz-the-poets-spiritual-quest\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"pl_PL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Czes\u0142aw Mi\u0142osz \u2013 The Poet\u2019s Spiritual Quest - Instytut Polski w Nowym Jorku\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Polish Poetry Unites is\u202fa video series for anyone interested in literature, history and reading. In each episode Edward Hirsch, a distinguished American poet, and the president of the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, will introduce a celebrated Polish poet to American audiences. Watch the episode on YouTube channel. This episode of Polish Poetry Unites introduces to American audiences […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2025\/11\/24\/czeslaw-milosz-the-poets-spiritual-quest\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Instytut Polski w Nowym Jorku\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-24T17:15:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-20T16:44:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/11\/Screenshot-2025-11-24-114704.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"752\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"546\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"stypulkowskaa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Napisane przez\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"stypulkowskaa\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Szacowany czas czytania\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minut\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"event\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2025\/11\/24\/czeslaw-milosz-the-poets-spiritual-quest\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2025\/11\/24\/czeslaw-milosz-the-poets-spiritual-quest\/\",\"name\":\"Czes\u0142aw Mi\u0142osz \u2013 The Poet\u2019s Spiritual Quest\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2025\/11\/24\/czeslaw-milosz-the-poets-spiritual-quest\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":[\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/11\/Screenshot-2025-11-24-114704.png\",\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/11\/Screenshot-2025-11-24-114704-300x218.png\",\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/11\/Screenshot-2025-11-24-114704.png\",\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/11\/Screenshot-2025-11-24-114704.png\"],\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/11\/Screenshot-2025-11-24-114704.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-24T17:15:44+02:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-20T16:44:06+02:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/#\/schema\/person\/c732b2695ee92026d080eec35471c7f1\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2025\/11\/24\/czeslaw-milosz-the-poets-spiritual-quest\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"pl-PL\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2025\/11\/24\/czeslaw-milosz-the-poets-spiritual-quest\/\"]}],\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"startDate\":\"2025-11-11\",\"endDate\":\"2025-12-11\",\"eventStatus\":\"EventScheduled\",\"eventAttendanceMode\":\"OfflineEventAttendanceMode\",\"location\":{\"@type\":\"place\",\"name\":\"\",\"address\":\"\",\"geo\":{\"@type\":\"GeoCoordinates\",\"latitude\":\"\",\"longitude\":\"\"}},\"description\":\"Polish Poetry Unites is\u202fa video series for anyone interested in literature, history and reading. In each episode Edward Hirsch, a distinguished American poet, and the president of the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, will introduce a celebrated Polish poet to American audiences. \\nWatch the episode on YouTube channel.\\nThis episode of Polish Poetry Unites introduces to American audiences the life and work of Czes\u0142aw Mi\u0142osz, 1980 Nobel Prize Winner.\\nFollowing the foreword by Edward Hirsch, the video showcases the Mi\u0142osz\u2019s famous poem \u201cMeaning\u201d presented by Ewa Ju\u0144czyk-Ziomecka from Warsaw. The poem was translated from the Polish by Czes\u0142aw Mi\u0142osz and Robert Hass.\\nEdward Hirsch who knew Mi\u0142osz personally says: \u201cCzeslaw Milosz is a towering figure of not just Polish literature, but world literature. And it's impossible to summarize him in a very short amount of time. It's a big life, big project. I\u2019ll just say a few things that seem to me to me about him.\u201d (\u2026) \\nLater Hirsch continues: \u201cHe first came into my consciousness when he came to the United States. He started teaching in the Slavic department at Berkeley When I was 23, I discovered his selected poems. This is the book, that was his first book that made an impact in the United States and an impact on me. The second thing was, while he was at Berkeley, he tried to cheer himself up and he wrote a history of Polish literature. This is my copy. And from this history of Polish literature, that's how I learned everything. This was my portal. This was our portal. This is how I heard about Herbert. This is how I heard about R\u00f3\u017cewicz. This is how I heard about Szymborska. And this is how I heard about the generation before him like a poet who's been important to me, Aleksander Wat.\u00a0\\nMilosz\u2019s project of explaining Polish literature was also a project of how what happened to the poet in Poland was a laboratory for what happened in Europe and what happened in the rest of the world, and he had a series of Cassandra like warnings about the ahistoricism of the United States. And he was shocked by the indifference of the US to what had happened in Europe. And he began to sound the cry, both in his own poems and in his writings about Polish literature and about literature in general. He gave a series of lectures at Harvard called The Witness of Poetry, in which he argued for poetry's historical importance and how poetry witnessed events. \\nMi\u0142osz was a poet who constantly warned about history and how we needed to learn from history, but who also wanted to transcend history, who wanted to go to, think about other things, eternal values. And this is where the wonderful poem \u201cMeaning\u201d comes in, that's featured in the film, because this shows the religious quest that's in in Milosz\u2019s work, his longing for something beyond something that would make sense, some world beyond this world that would make sense of all the chaos, make sense of all the destruction, that something would suddenly come into order. (\u2026)\u201d\\nCzes\u0142aw Mi\u0142osz, MEANING\\n- When I die, I will seethe lining of the world.The other side,beyond bird, mountain, sunset.The true meaning, ready to be decoded.What never added up will add up,What was incomprehensiblewill be comprehended.- And if there is no liningto the world?If a thrush on a branch is not a sign,But just a thrush on the branch?If night and dayMake no sense following each other?And on this earth, there is nothingexcept this earth?- Even if that is so,there will remainA word wakened by lipsthat perish,A tireless messenger who runs and runsThrough interstellar fields,through the revolving galaxies,And calls out, protests, screams.\\nTranslated from the Polish by Czes\u0142aw Mi\u0142osz and Robert Hass.\\nCzes\u0142aw Mi\u0142osz, SENS\\n- Kiedy umr\u0119, zobacz\u0119 podszewk\u0119 \u015bwiata.Drug\u0105 stron\u0119, za ptakiem, g\u00f3r\u0105 i zachodem s\u0142o\u0144ca.Wzywaj\u0105ce odczytania prawdziwe znaczenie.Co si\u0119 nie zgadza\u0142o, b\u0119dzie si\u0119 zgadza\u0142o.Co by\u0142o niepoj\u0119te, b\u0119dzie poj\u0119te.- A je\u017celi nie ma podszewki \u015bwiata?Je\u017celi drozd na ga\u0142\u0119zi nie jest wcale znakiemTylko drozdem na ga\u0142\u0119zi, je\u017celi dzie\u0144 i nocNast\u0119puj\u0105 po sobie nie dbaj\u0105c o sensI nie ma nic na tej ziemi, pr\u00f3cz tej ziemi?- Gdyby tak by\u0142o, to jednak zostanieS\u0142owo raz obudzone przez nietrwa\u0142e usta,Kt\u00f3re biegnie i biegnie, pose\u0142 niestrudzony,Na mi\u0119dzygwiezdne pola, w ko\u0142owr\u00f3t galaktykI protestuje, wo\u0142a, krzyczy.\\nCzes\u0142aw Mi\u0142osz (born June 30, 1911, \u0160eteniai, Lithuania, Russian Empire [now in Lithuania]\u2014died August 14, 2004, Krak\u00f3w, Poland) was a Polish American poet, novelist, translator, critic, and diplomat who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1980. He was cited then as a writer \u201cwho with uncompromising clear-sightedness voices man\u2019s exposed condition in a world of severe conflicts.\u201d Mi\u0142osz\u2019s writing examines the impact of repressive regimes and systems such as national socialism and communism on the human spirit. He was foremost a poet, but his best-known work is the essay collection The Captive Mind (1953).\\nThe son of a civil engineer, Mi\u0142osz completed his university studies in Wilno (now Vilnius, Lithuania), which belonged to Poland between the two World Wars. His first book of verse, Poemat o czasie zastyg\u0142ym (1933; \u201cPoem of Frozen Time\u201d), expresses catastrophic fears of an impending war and worldwide disaster. During the Nazi occupation he moved to Warsaw, where he was active in the resistance and edited Pie\u015b\u0144 niepodleg\u0142a: poezja polska czasu wojny (1942; \u201cIndependent Song: Polish Wartime Poetry\u201d), a clandestine anthology of well-known contemporary poems.\\nMi\u0142osz\u2019s collection Ocalenie (1945; \u201cRescue\u201d) contains his prewar poems and those written during the occupation. In the same year, he joined the Polish diplomatic service and was sent, after briefly working during 1946 in the Polish embassy in New York City, to Washington, D.C., as cultural attach\u00e9, and then to Paris, as first secretary for cultural affairs in Paris. There he asked for political asylum in 1951. Nine years later he immigrated to the United States, where he joined the faculty of the University of California at Berkeley and taught Slavic languages and literature until his retirement in 1980. Mi\u0142osz became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1970.\\nUntil 1980, when Mi\u0142osz was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, his work was banned in Poland because of his defiance of the country\u2019s communist government. Yet he was widely admired there, and many underground editions of his poetry collections were printed. His winning the Nobel Prize led the Polish government to authorize an anthology of his poems, which sold a remarkable 200,000 copies.\\nThere are several volumes of English translations of Mi\u0142osz\u2019s poetry, including The Collected Poems 1931\u20131987 (1988) and Provinces (1991). His prose works include his autobiography, Rodzinna Europa (1959; Native Realm), Prywatne obowi\u0105zki (1972; \u201cPrivate Obligations\u201d), the novel Dolina Issy (1955; The Issa Valley), and The History of Polish Literature (1969).\\nThough Mi\u0142osz was primarily a poet, his best-known work became his collection of essays Zniewolony umys\u0142 (1953; The Captive Mind), in which he condemns the accommodation of many Polish intellectuals to communism. This theme is also present in his novel Zdobycie w\u0142adzy (1955; The Seizure of Power). His poetic works are noted for their classical style and their preoccupation with philosophical and political issues. An important example is Traktat poetycki (1957; Treatise on Poetry), which combines a defense of poetry with a history of Poland from 1918 to the 1950s. The critic Helen Vendler wrote that this long poem seemed to her \u201cthe most comprehensive and moving poem\u201d of the latter half of the 20th century.\\nIn 2001 Mi\u0142osz published To Begin Where I Am, a collection of autobiographical essays, and New and Collected Poems: 1931\u20132001. Both books contain English translations of new and earlier pieces. Many other collections appeared after his death in 2004. Some of his earlier poems were translated into English in Poet in the New World (2025), edited by Robert Hass and David Frick.\\n(Source \u2013 Britannica)\\nThe POLISH POETRY UNITES episode about Czes\u0142aw Mi\u0142osz was produced with additional support from:\u00a0the Museum of Literature in Warsaw and New York Women in Film & Television\\nLead image: Czes\u0142aw Mi\u0142osz, fot. SIPA \/ East NewsBio image: Czes\u0142aw Mi\u0142osz, fot. AKG Images \/ East News\\nModerator: Edward HirschWriter and Director: Ewa Zadrzy\u0144skaCurator and Executive Producer: Bartek Remisko\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"pl-PL\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2025\/11\/24\/czeslaw-milosz-the-poets-spiritual-quest\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/11\/Screenshot-2025-11-24-114704.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/11\/Screenshot-2025-11-24-114704.png\",\"width\":752,\"height\":546},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2025\/11\/24\/czeslaw-milosz-the-poets-spiritual-quest\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Czes\u0142aw Mi\u0142osz \u2013 The Poet\u2019s Spiritual Quest\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/\",\"name\":\"Instytut Polski w Nowym Jorku\",\"description\":\"Instytuty Polskie\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"pl-PL\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/#\/schema\/person\/c732b2695ee92026d080eec35471c7f1\",\"name\":\"stypulkowskaa\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"pl-PL\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a29bb1802c91e057084d5d112dd59dc4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a29bb1802c91e057084d5d112dd59dc4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"stypulkowskaa\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/author\/stypulkowskaa-2\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Czes\u0142aw Mi\u0142osz \u2013 The Poet\u2019s Spiritual Quest - Instytut Polski w Nowym Jorku","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2025\/11\/24\/czeslaw-milosz-the-poets-spiritual-quest\/","og_locale":"pl_PL","og_type":"article","og_title":"Czes\u0142aw Mi\u0142osz \u2013 The Poet\u2019s Spiritual Quest - Instytut Polski w Nowym Jorku","og_description":"Polish Poetry Unites is\u202fa video series for anyone interested in literature, history and reading. In each episode Edward Hirsch, a distinguished American poet, and the president of the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, will introduce a celebrated Polish poet to American audiences. Watch the episode on YouTube channel. This episode of Polish Poetry Unites introduces to American audiences […]","og_url":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2025\/11\/24\/czeslaw-milosz-the-poets-spiritual-quest\/","og_site_name":"Instytut Polski w Nowym Jorku","article_published_time":"2025-11-24T17:15:44+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-01-20T16:44:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":752,"height":546,"url":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/11\/Screenshot-2025-11-24-114704.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"stypulkowskaa","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Napisane przez":"stypulkowskaa","Szacowany czas czytania":"9 minut"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"event","@id":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2025\/11\/24\/czeslaw-milosz-the-poets-spiritual-quest\/","url":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2025\/11\/24\/czeslaw-milosz-the-poets-spiritual-quest\/","name":"Czes\u0142aw Mi\u0142osz \u2013 The Poet\u2019s Spiritual Quest","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2025\/11\/24\/czeslaw-milosz-the-poets-spiritual-quest\/#primaryimage"},"image":["https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/11\/Screenshot-2025-11-24-114704.png","https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/11\/Screenshot-2025-11-24-114704-300x218.png","https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/11\/Screenshot-2025-11-24-114704.png","https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/11\/Screenshot-2025-11-24-114704.png"],"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/11\/Screenshot-2025-11-24-114704.png","datePublished":"2025-11-24T17:15:44+02:00","dateModified":"2026-01-20T16:44:06+02:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/#\/schema\/person\/c732b2695ee92026d080eec35471c7f1"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2025\/11\/24\/czeslaw-milosz-the-poets-spiritual-quest\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"pl-PL","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2025\/11\/24\/czeslaw-milosz-the-poets-spiritual-quest\/"]}],"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","startDate":"2025-11-11","endDate":"2025-12-11","eventStatus":"EventScheduled","eventAttendanceMode":"OfflineEventAttendanceMode","location":{"@type":"place","name":"","address":"","geo":{"@type":"GeoCoordinates","latitude":"","longitude":""}},"description":"Polish Poetry Unites is\u202fa video series for anyone interested in literature, history and reading. In each episode Edward Hirsch, a distinguished American poet, and the president of the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, will introduce a celebrated Polish poet to American audiences. \nWatch the episode on YouTube channel.\nThis episode of Polish Poetry Unites introduces to American audiences the life and work of Czes\u0142aw Mi\u0142osz, 1980 Nobel Prize Winner.\nFollowing the foreword by Edward Hirsch, the video showcases the Mi\u0142osz\u2019s famous poem \u201cMeaning\u201d presented by Ewa Ju\u0144czyk-Ziomecka from Warsaw. The poem was translated from the Polish by Czes\u0142aw Mi\u0142osz and Robert Hass.\nEdward Hirsch who knew Mi\u0142osz personally says: \u201cCzeslaw Milosz is a towering figure of not just Polish literature, but world literature. And it's impossible to summarize him in a very short amount of time. It's a big life, big project. I\u2019ll just say a few things that seem to me to me about him.\u201d (\u2026) \nLater Hirsch continues: \u201cHe first came into my consciousness when he came to the United States. He started teaching in the Slavic department at Berkeley When I was 23, I discovered his selected poems. This is the book, that was his first book that made an impact in the United States and an impact on me. The second thing was, while he was at Berkeley, he tried to cheer himself up and he wrote a history of Polish literature. This is my copy. And from this history of Polish literature, that's how I learned everything. This was my portal. This was our portal. This is how I heard about Herbert. This is how I heard about R\u00f3\u017cewicz. This is how I heard about Szymborska. And this is how I heard about the generation before him like a poet who's been important to me, Aleksander Wat.\u00a0\nMilosz\u2019s project of explaining Polish literature was also a project of how what happened to the poet in Poland was a laboratory for what happened in Europe and what happened in the rest of the world, and he had a series of Cassandra like warnings about the ahistoricism of the United States. And he was shocked by the indifference of the US to what had happened in Europe. And he began to sound the cry, both in his own poems and in his writings about Polish literature and about literature in general. He gave a series of lectures at Harvard called The Witness of Poetry, in which he argued for poetry's historical importance and how poetry witnessed events. \nMi\u0142osz was a poet who constantly warned about history and how we needed to learn from history, but who also wanted to transcend history, who wanted to go to, think about other things, eternal values. And this is where the wonderful poem \u201cMeaning\u201d comes in, that's featured in the film, because this shows the religious quest that's in in Milosz\u2019s work, his longing for something beyond something that would make sense, some world beyond this world that would make sense of all the chaos, make sense of all the destruction, that something would suddenly come into order. (\u2026)\u201d\nCzes\u0142aw Mi\u0142osz, MEANING\n- When I die, I will seethe lining of the world.The other side,beyond bird, mountain, sunset.The true meaning, ready to be decoded.What never added up will add up,What was incomprehensiblewill be comprehended.- And if there is no liningto the world?If a thrush on a branch is not a sign,But just a thrush on the branch?If night and dayMake no sense following each other?And on this earth, there is nothingexcept this earth?- Even if that is so,there will remainA word wakened by lipsthat perish,A tireless messenger who runs and runsThrough interstellar fields,through the revolving galaxies,And calls out, protests, screams.\nTranslated from the Polish by Czes\u0142aw Mi\u0142osz and Robert Hass.\nCzes\u0142aw Mi\u0142osz, SENS\n- Kiedy umr\u0119, zobacz\u0119 podszewk\u0119 \u015bwiata.Drug\u0105 stron\u0119, za ptakiem, g\u00f3r\u0105 i zachodem s\u0142o\u0144ca.Wzywaj\u0105ce odczytania prawdziwe znaczenie.Co si\u0119 nie zgadza\u0142o, b\u0119dzie si\u0119 zgadza\u0142o.Co by\u0142o niepoj\u0119te, b\u0119dzie poj\u0119te.- A je\u017celi nie ma podszewki \u015bwiata?Je\u017celi drozd na ga\u0142\u0119zi nie jest wcale znakiemTylko drozdem na ga\u0142\u0119zi, je\u017celi dzie\u0144 i nocNast\u0119puj\u0105 po sobie nie dbaj\u0105c o sensI nie ma nic na tej ziemi, pr\u00f3cz tej ziemi?- Gdyby tak by\u0142o, to jednak zostanieS\u0142owo raz obudzone przez nietrwa\u0142e usta,Kt\u00f3re biegnie i biegnie, pose\u0142 niestrudzony,Na mi\u0119dzygwiezdne pola, w ko\u0142owr\u00f3t galaktykI protestuje, wo\u0142a, krzyczy.\nCzes\u0142aw Mi\u0142osz (born June 30, 1911, \u0160eteniai, Lithuania, Russian Empire [now in Lithuania]\u2014died August 14, 2004, Krak\u00f3w, Poland) was a Polish American poet, novelist, translator, critic, and diplomat who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1980. He was cited then as a writer \u201cwho with uncompromising clear-sightedness voices man\u2019s exposed condition in a world of severe conflicts.\u201d Mi\u0142osz\u2019s writing examines the impact of repressive regimes and systems such as national socialism and communism on the human spirit. He was foremost a poet, but his best-known work is the essay collection The Captive Mind (1953).\nThe son of a civil engineer, Mi\u0142osz completed his university studies in Wilno (now Vilnius, Lithuania), which belonged to Poland between the two World Wars. His first book of verse, Poemat o czasie zastyg\u0142ym (1933; \u201cPoem of Frozen Time\u201d), expresses catastrophic fears of an impending war and worldwide disaster. During the Nazi occupation he moved to Warsaw, where he was active in the resistance and edited Pie\u015b\u0144 niepodleg\u0142a: poezja polska czasu wojny (1942; \u201cIndependent Song: Polish Wartime Poetry\u201d), a clandestine anthology of well-known contemporary poems.\nMi\u0142osz\u2019s collection Ocalenie (1945; \u201cRescue\u201d) contains his prewar poems and those written during the occupation. In the same year, he joined the Polish diplomatic service and was sent, after briefly working during 1946 in the Polish embassy in New York City, to Washington, D.C., as cultural attach\u00e9, and then to Paris, as first secretary for cultural affairs in Paris. There he asked for political asylum in 1951. Nine years later he immigrated to the United States, where he joined the faculty of the University of California at Berkeley and taught Slavic languages and literature until his retirement in 1980. Mi\u0142osz became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1970.\nUntil 1980, when Mi\u0142osz was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, his work was banned in Poland because of his defiance of the country\u2019s communist government. Yet he was widely admired there, and many underground editions of his poetry collections were printed. His winning the Nobel Prize led the Polish government to authorize an anthology of his poems, which sold a remarkable 200,000 copies.\nThere are several volumes of English translations of Mi\u0142osz\u2019s poetry, including The Collected Poems 1931\u20131987 (1988) and Provinces (1991). His prose works include his autobiography, Rodzinna Europa (1959; Native Realm), Prywatne obowi\u0105zki (1972; \u201cPrivate Obligations\u201d), the novel Dolina Issy (1955; The Issa Valley), and The History of Polish Literature (1969).\nThough Mi\u0142osz was primarily a poet, his best-known work became his collection of essays Zniewolony umys\u0142 (1953; The Captive Mind), in which he condemns the accommodation of many Polish intellectuals to communism. This theme is also present in his novel Zdobycie w\u0142adzy (1955; The Seizure of Power). His poetic works are noted for their classical style and their preoccupation with philosophical and political issues. An important example is Traktat poetycki (1957; Treatise on Poetry), which combines a defense of poetry with a history of Poland from 1918 to the 1950s. The critic Helen Vendler wrote that this long poem seemed to her \u201cthe most comprehensive and moving poem\u201d of the latter half of the 20th century.\nIn 2001 Mi\u0142osz published To Begin Where I Am, a collection of autobiographical essays, and New and Collected Poems: 1931\u20132001. Both books contain English translations of new and earlier pieces. Many other collections appeared after his death in 2004. Some of his earlier poems were translated into English in Poet in the New World (2025), edited by Robert Hass and David Frick.\n(Source \u2013 Britannica)\nThe POLISH POETRY UNITES episode about Czes\u0142aw Mi\u0142osz was produced with additional support from:\u00a0the Museum of Literature in Warsaw and New York Women in Film & Television\nLead image: Czes\u0142aw Mi\u0142osz, fot. SIPA \/ East NewsBio image: Czes\u0142aw Mi\u0142osz, fot. AKG Images \/ East News\nModerator: Edward HirschWriter and Director: Ewa Zadrzy\u0144skaCurator and Executive Producer: Bartek Remisko"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"pl-PL","@id":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2025\/11\/24\/czeslaw-milosz-the-poets-spiritual-quest\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/11\/Screenshot-2025-11-24-114704.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/11\/Screenshot-2025-11-24-114704.png","width":752,"height":546},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2025\/11\/24\/czeslaw-milosz-the-poets-spiritual-quest\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Czes\u0142aw Mi\u0142osz \u2013 The Poet\u2019s Spiritual Quest"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/#website","url":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/","name":"Instytut Polski w Nowym Jorku","description":"Instytuty Polskie","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"pl-PL"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/#\/schema\/person\/c732b2695ee92026d080eec35471c7f1","name":"stypulkowskaa","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"pl-PL","@id":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a29bb1802c91e057084d5d112dd59dc4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a29bb1802c91e057084d5d112dd59dc4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"stypulkowskaa"},"url":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/author\/stypulkowskaa-2\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/202"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19246"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19505,"href":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19246\/revisions\/19505"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}