Exile was a prevalent theme among the poets of post-war Poland. Many fled to Paris or America in order to practice their art without political ramifications. Baranczak’s own immigration to the United States was delayed three years as the Polish government wouldn’t allow the professor to leave the country because officials feared the dissident would stir up anti-government sentiment abroad. It was only after University affiliates, including then-president Derek C. Bok, plied the Polish government with numerous letters that Baranczak was allowed to travel.

Though acclimating to a different cultural climate took Baranczak some time, he was not a reluctant exile. He welcomed his move to the land he and his wife were so curious about, the “land of Ella Fitzgerald and Emily Dickinson,” Anna says. Baranczak’s poem “Don’t Use the Word ‘Exile’” argues against using the term “exile” because “it’s improper and senseless.” For Baranczak, “you yourself left them behind, selfishly forsaken / even as you set foot on the curb or entered the station, / because with every moment one chooses another life.” Furthermore, Wolynski says, Baranczak “lived to work,” and in America, Baranczak could escape the political upheaval for which he had no desire to act as poet-spokesman.

The poems of Baranczak that have been translated into English, Nizynska says, would give readers a narrow impression that does not reflect the corpus of his work. His earlier poetry features an overt anti-communist sentiment, but Baranczak’s later, more metaphysical work shows the poet at his full height and demonstrates his reluctance to engage with the political. As he matured as a poet, Baranczak played with his native language more, she says.

Beyond poetry and politics, translations were important to Baranczak. His most significant contribution to Polish literature is perhaps his translation of the complete works of Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s plays have been translated into Polish before, but Baranczak translated the work with unique sensitivity to the plays’ theatrical elements. However, Fanger, who worked with Baranczak for about two decades, says Baranczak is a poet and writer first.

“I’ve never met anybody who lived so completely and so insistently and so intensely by the written word,” Fanger says. “He was always good to talk to, but his manner was quiet in speech, almost shy. But he could do anything on the page.”

And yet, while Parkinson’s has stolen Baranczak’s ability to write and severely limited his ability to speak, Wolynski believes that Baranczak is still working with words, as he has for his entire life: “If [Baranczak] can’t work, he’s very unhappy,” Wolynski says. “The disease of course stopped him. But in reality, he’s still working in his head. It doesn’t matter that he cannot now even operate the computer. He is still working.”

—Staff writer Tara W. Merrigan can be reached at tmerrigan@college.harvard.edu.