A master at blending cynicism and truth, Wislawa Szymborska is known for her poetry “that with ironic precision allows the historical and biological context to come to light in fragments of human reality.” She delves into the nuances of human nature, and questions how humans construct self-perception based on societal values and their inborn anthropocentrism. Szymborska’s poems “Hatred” and “View With a Grain of Sand” focus on the ironic nature of the beliefs and values in human construction of self-image: she explores the fear of using violence, and the non-existent self-perception of objects.

In “Hatred”, Szymborska immediately captures the readers’ attentions with her claims of hatred’s capability with her assertion that it ‘leaps and overtakes.’ …show more content…
Right off the bat, Szymborska shocks the readers, and forces them to take a closer look at the values that they hold close to themselves. She depicts hatred as an unnatural force—‘sleeplessness won’t sap its strength—it feeds it’. In order to survive, humans must rely on sleep: she suggests that the sleeplessness that feeds hate is a consequence of societally constructed artificial values. Psychologist Dana Harron stated that humans inherently project what they dislike about themselves onto others as a coping method: this is often borne of societal values about what is ‘right’ or wrong’. Self-perception is founded by how humans perceive their ideal selves; Szymborska implies that perception created based on societal values is weak, as the violation of these societal values often lead to negative self-images—which results in the rise of ‘sleeplessness’ and hatred. She emphasizes the strength of hatred over common values such as compassion: ‘Has compassion ever