The Joy Of Writing-- By Wislawa Szymborska... Can somebody pls explain me the meaning of this poem ?

Question

It goes like:
Why does the written doe bound through these written woods?
For a drink of written water from a spring
whose surface will xerox her soft muzzle?

I really need to know the meaning of this poem for my test tomorrow. Please explain it to me

Thank you Todd for helping. But i cant understand the 4th stanza --
They forget that what's here isn't life....

Answer 1

Here's the complete poem from the Nobel Prize winner in Literature of 1996. It will be easier for all of us to get to the meaning with the full poem:

The Joy of Writing

Why does this written doe bound through these written woods?
For a drink of written water from a spring
whose surface will xerox her soft muzzle?
Why does she lift her head; does she hear something?
Perched on four slim legs borrowed from the truth,
she pricks up her ears beneath my fingertips.
Silence - this word also rustles across the page
and parts the boughs
that have sprouted from the word "woods."

Lying in wait, set to pounce on the blank page,
are letters up to no good,
clutches of clauses so subordinate
they'll never let her get away.

Each drop of ink contains a fair supply
of hunters, equipped with squinting eyes behind their sights,
prepared to swarm the sloping pen at any moment,
surround the doe, and slowly aim their guns.

They forget that what's here isn't life.
Other laws, black on white, obtain.
The twinkling of an eye will take as long as I say,
and will, if I wish, divide into tiny eternities,
full of bullets stopped in mid-flight.
Not a thing will ever happen unless I say so.
Without my blessing, not a leaf will fall,
not a blade of grass will bend beneath that little hoof's full stop.

Is there then a world
where I rule absolutely on fate?
A time I bind with chains of signs?
An existence become endless at my bidding?

The joy of writing.
The power of preserving.
Revenge of a mortal hand.

Analyisis:

This talks about the creative aspect of writing. The doe is the author’s inspiration moving through this created “world”. Every word written (“each drop of ink”) contains hunters these could be critics, or even the writers own self-critique. Inspiration (“the doe”) fears them. Ultimately though the writer declares that she has power over time and space in her words. The normal rules don’t apply. The last three lines are the one’s you need to focus on, they speak to the power of creation that the writer has over their work—this freedom is the joy of writing. That is not a thorough analysis, but work through the lines yourself and see what rings true to you. I hope that helps. Good luck on your test.

Edit: 4th stanza--the hunters (critics) forget that what's here isn't life. It is essentially print on the page. The writer is in control not those who would spray bullets in the air at what is written--that's what I take from it.

Answer 2

I wasn't going to reply because Todd's answer was so well put...but I believe he missed an important point: the "hunters" that live in each drop of ink line means this: just as every bullet has a target with its name on it, so too does each drop of ink...the answer to every question is in the tip of a pencil, in the cartridge of every printer, and under the fingers of every typist...the "hunter" is always there, just waiting for the "author" to bring him out from within the ink...and yet "this is not life", because there is no real "life" in what we create, it is only a mirror of our thoughts, and as such, "we" determine when something will or will not happen, we are godlike in this power over what is "not life", but seems almost as real. The "doe" is not just the thoughts and imagination of the author, it can actually be the "doe" in a poem, because the author is telling you that it "does" bound through these "written woods"...that the story says it "does", so it "does"...but only in these "written woods", that it is "not life".

I hope our comments have helped you understand this poem a little better.

Answer 3

The deer is killed by copying rather than being refreshed. Poetry is not meant to be duplicated.

[edit: Todd carries it beyond in the expanded verse. The author maintains the life of the poem. The critics are the hunters. The author goes on publishing, images constantly refreshed. Each leaf moves at his demand.]

Answer 4

Man! That's one clever poem. Think about it. I'll give you a clue. You are not looking at an actual deer, you are looking at a representation of a deer which uses language. What appears on the surface of the water when an animal puts its mouth to the water to take a drink? Think, then stop thinking and think again.

Answer 5

I believe it's about how we are able to create,through writing,a situation or even a world of our own and then give that creative idea to others.
"Why does the the written doe bound through these written woods?"
Why not have the "written deer" bounding through a "written freeway lane?
You can do that because it's your creation.Your own expression.
That's were the joy is.It's your creation and you can share it with others.

Answer 6

as if the poem has one single meaning. .. read and rearead it. listen to what your heart is telling you, make your own meaning, the details in the poem will guide you. make connections. start from the words "written" (mentioned 3 times) and xerox.