The End and the Beginning

In Stanza 5, Szymborska makes readers aware of the presence of cameras by removing them from the poem altogether. The speaker states,

photogenic it’s not,

and takes years.

All of the cameras have left

for another war (Lines 18-21).

On the surface, the cameras represent the news media, capturing moments of violent combat and calling it content: a traumatic story that viewers cannot help but watch unfold. However, the cameras also represent the inherent circularity of war. Szymborska cites “another war,” implying that large-scale combat is never-ending, cycling through various countries just like the news stories that cover the devastation (Line 21). As soon as one war ends, another begins, making readers startlingly aware of the circularity of the poem itself. The inherent peace Szymborska establishes within the post-war future of Stanza 10 will inevitably be disrupted by another war, forcing readers back to Stanza 1. The symbol of the camera reinforces Szymborska’s argument that war does not mark the end of suffering, but the cause of more trauma.

The grass that is introduced in the final stanza of “The End and the Beginning” is one of the poem’s most versatile symbols. In Stanza 10, Szymborska writes about a future far beyond the post-war reconstruction efforts.