Wislawa Szymborska's "Conversation with a Stone": An Interpretation‪.‬

Throughout the Middle Ages ... the stone remained the main symbol of folly--hard, impenetrable, stolid.... It was above all a metaphor which demonstrated well-nigh mythologically the intrinsically foolish nature of human beings. (1) References are found to the surgical removal of stones as a method of curing someone of his folly. In "Conversation With A Stone," Wislawa Szymborska gives "her" stone a voice; further, she allows a dialogue with an unidentified speaker who remains quite insistent throughout that this stone should allow entrance to its "insides" so as to "have a look around." Quite a bit of folly takes place here as the ensuing exchange develops. But then, Szymborska is a poet, and she considers it her business to rekindle Memory with its original Understanding that reality is not what it appears to be. Let us also remember that until the sixteenth century, Folly was often the voice of Wisdom.