His reaction is a great illustration of how literary milieus in Poland regard Herbert s work. For my generation, for all those who began after him, Herbert was always a guidepost. He embodied that which Adam Mickiewicz has called the ark of the covenant between the old and the new years. Many tried to imitate him. The young ones, like Julian Kornhauser, sometimes attacked him but even they ultimately became believers.
Writers frequently aspire to communicate with their readers of the future.
If one were to turn this order around and wonder about how Homer would judge the literature of today, the only Polish poet whom he would be able to understand is Herbert. Herbert was one of the few poets able to combine an avant-garde poetics with a sense of tradition. His understanding of tradition, however, had nothing to do with stylization. Tradition provided him with a challenge that allowed him to measure his strengths. That Herbert was not appreciated among the opinion-shaping circles who nominate candidates for the Nobel Prize says more about these groups than it says about Herbert.