War without War: Reading Zagajewski's "To Go to Lvov"
Adam Zagajewski’s intriguing poem “To Go to Lvov” is a “return poem,” which captures the consequences of war without ever mentioning the word. As we enter into it, let’s remember the two most famous return poems, also the two oldest—Homer’s The Odyssey and Virgil’s The Aeneid. We recall how, when the Greek hero Odysseus leaves Troy, his mind is set on returning to his kingdom Ithaca….