"In her poems we could find brilliant advice"
Wislawa Szymborska, Poland's 1996 Nobel Prize-winning poet, died at her home in Krakow on Wednesday evening at the age of 88.
Paying farewell to the poet, Poland's President Bronislaw Komorowski and his wife Anna wrote that Wislawa Szymborska was their "guardian spirit". "In her poems we could find brilliant advice which made the world easier to understand," the presidential couple added.
Last year, President Bronislaw Komorowski honoured Wislawa Szymborska with Poland's highest distinction, The Order of the White Eagle, in recognition of her contribution to her country's culture.
The Nobel award committee decided to honour Szymborska for her poetry marked by ironic precision revealing the truths of life.
Szymborska was born near Poznan in western Poland on July 2, 1923. After WW2 she studied Polish literature and sociology at Krakow's Jagiellonian University, but never earned a degree. In 1945, she published her first poem, "I Am Looking for a Word," in a weekly supplement to the local "Dziennik Polski" newspaper.
Szymborska published only 350 poems. Her poetry was wildly popular with her Polish readers. (PAP)