Winner of the 1996 Nobel Prize for Poetry, Poland's Wislawa Szymborska, 88, died of lung cancer in her sleep on the evening of February 1, 2012. Friends and relatives gathered around the poet’s bed as she took her final breaths.

In its citation of Szymborska, the Nobel prize committee named her the “Mozart of poetry” with the “fury of Beethoven.” She was a poet who blended humor with seriousness.  According to the Associated Press, she was both deeply political and also playful.

“Her verse, seemingly simple, was subtle, deep and often hauntingly beautiful,” wrote reporter Monika Scislowska for the AP. “She often used everyday images—an onion, a cat wandering in an empty apartment, an old fan in a museum—to reflect on…love, death, and passing time.”

Just last year Szymborska was awarded The Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s highest honor.

Poems she had been writing and editing up until her death will be published in a collection forthcoming this year. Her most recent collection is 2008’s Here.

Source: Associated Press

Photo Credit: Anna Baranczak, taken from The Harvard Book Review.