ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Friday, October 4, 1996                TAG: 9610040043
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL   PAGE: A-4  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
SOURCE: Associated Press

`MOZART OF POETRY' WINS NOBEL

A shy, 73-year-old Polish poet who disavowed her Stalinist past to become an inspiration for movie makers and rock bands won the Nobel Prize for literature Thursday.

Wislawa Szymborska had gone for a walk in the southern Polish holiday resort of Zakopane just before the Swedish Academy announced the $1.12 million award.

``I am very happy, I am honored, but at the same time stunned and a little bit frightened with what awaits me,'' she told Poland's Radio Zet. ``I'm afraid I will not have a quiet life for some time now, and this is what I prize the most.''

Arguably Poland's most popular poet, Szymborska's work inspired the 1994 movie ``Red'' and provided lyrics for Polish rock stars. Critics say she is both deeply political and witty, using humor in unexpected ways.

The citation described her as a ``Mozart of poetry,'' a woman who mixed elegance of language with ``the fury of Beethoven'' and who was not afraid to tackle serious subjects with levity.

Szymborska's later poetry is revenge of sorts against her first two books, published in 1952 and 1954, both attempts to conform to social realism at a time when Communist censorship held sway over Poland.

She later disclaimed both books and became a critic of Josef Stalin.

Szymborska's (sheem-BOR-skah) books which are available in English include ``View With a Grain of Sand,'' ``People on a Bridge'' and ``Sounds, Feelings, Thoughts: Seventy Poems.''

LENGTH: Short :   41 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  AP. Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska, 1996 Nobel Prize for
          Literature recipient, was the inspiration for the 1994 movie "Red." 
          She has also provided lyrics for Polish rock groups.