A Study Guide for Adam Zagajewski's "Try to Praise the Mutilated World"

By Gale and Cengage

A Study Guide for Adam Zagajewski's "Try to Praise the Mutilated World," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Poetry for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Poetry for Students for all of your research needs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cengage Learning - Gale
• Release date: Sep 28, 2016
• ISBN: 9781535841634

Book preview

13

Try to Praise the Mutilated World

Adam Zagajewski

2001

Introduction

Adam Zagajewski is an acclaimed Polish poet. His poem Try to Praise the Mutilated World became associated with the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, on the United States after the New Yorker published the poem two weeks later. Although the poem had been written shortly before the attacks and therefore was not about the attacks specifically, the work speaks to both the difficulty of moving forward and the desire of humanity to do so after the violent tragedies of war.

Throughout the poem, Zagajewski juxtaposes images of peace, hope, and ordinary daily life with the scars left upon the earth and its people by warfare. The poem's rich imagery and vivid but quiet language move the reader forward from observations wide in scope toward the speaker's personal meditations and memories. Repeatedly, the poet insists that the mutilated world referred to in the title be praised. In an effort to follow his own advice, the poet attempts to find praiseworthy elements in the scarred world, but he often struggles to remain in the positive space created through this effort. The poet slips into despair after each attempt to find something to sing about. Nevertheless, he concludes the poem by dwelling on a thin ray of hope. Originally published in the New Yorker on September 24, 2001, Try to Praise the Mutilated World later appeared in Zagajewski's 2002 collection Without End: New and Selected