According to Adam Zagajewski, these encounters lend poetry colour with questions, enthusiasms, and doubts, and are its essence. In this his ceremonial address at the awarding of the 2016 Lucas Prize, he describes what he understands poetry to be and what he requires of it.

"True poetry cannot exist without encountering the mind." According to Adam Zagajewski, these encounters lend poetry colour with questions, enthusiasms, and doubts, and are its essence. In this his ceremonial address at the awarding of the 2016 Lucas Prize, he describes what he understands poetry to be and what he requires of it. Poetry should not turn from the everyday, for the real and concrete are what nourishes it. Adam Zagajewski does not regard poetry as an answer, but rather as a pause between events in the world that cannot be grasped. Zagajewski's works are shaped by philosophical and theological aspects and build bridges of encountering and understanding between East and West Europe and the North American continent.

Autorentext
(1945-2021) Studium der Psychologie und der Philosophie in Krakau; 1972 Debüt als Lyriker; Teilnahme an der demokratischen Opposition in Polen in den 70er-Jahren; unterrichtete an den Universitäten in Houston und Chicago; 2004 Neustadt International Prize for Literature; 2016 Jean Améry Preis; 2017 Princess of Asturias Award in Literature.