Szymborska, one of the most acclaimed Polish poets, achieved worldwide recognition after winning the 1996 Nobel Prize in Literature "for poetry that with ironic precision allows the historical and biological context to come to light in fragments of human reality."
Since then, her works have been translated into more than 40 languages.
In her poetry, Szymborska used common everyday images to reflect on larger truths about love, death and passing time. She was keen to employ literary devices such as ironic precision, paradox, contradiction and understatement.
Her output is relatively modest, numbering around 400 poems. When asked why she had published so few poems, she said, "I have a trash can in my home."
Szymborska died on February 1, 2012, in the southern Polish city of Kraków, where she spent most of her life.
A year before her death at the age of 88 she received the Order of the White Eagle, the highest Polish state distinction.
Source: IAR/PAP