Understanding Human Traits: 'A Word on Statistics' Analysis

This essay provides a detailed analysis of Maria Wisława Anna Szymborska's poem, 'A Word on Statistics.' The essay explores the poem's central theme of human mortality, examining how the poet uses statistical data to represent various human characteristics. It delves into the poem's structure, discussing the significance of numbers as symbols and their role in portraying the diversity of human traits. The analysis highlights the conflict between variable and non-variable aspects of life, with mortality presented as the only constant. Furthermore, the essay discusses the poem's tone, imagery, and literary devices like repetition to support the main theme. The conclusion emphasizes that the poem's final statement is that every human life is bound by death.

Running head: UNDERSTAND HUMAN CHARECTERISTICS ON NUMBERS
UNDERSTAND HUMAN CHARECTERISTICS ON NUMBERS
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1UNDERSTAND HUMAN CHARECTERISTICS ON NUMBERS
Introduction
The poem, ‘A Word on Statistics’ is written by a Nobel laureate polish poet Maria Wisława
Anna Szymborska. This poem is an analysis of human characteristics based on numbers. The
numbers mentioned in the poem are the actual statistical data. The poet has asked questions
from her point of view on human characteristics and conducted a survey on one hundred
people.
The aim of this essay is to analysis the main theme of the poem, which is human
mortality. The essay will also demonstrate the other elements presented in the poem, like
symbolism, conflict, tone, repetition, imagery to support its main theme.
Discussions
The central theme of the poem is human mortality. Every human being may have varied
characteristics though everyone is mortal. This is the permanent character of every human
life. This is the only unchangeable characteristic of human. The poet has illustrated this point
at the end of the poem. She has conducted a survey on one hundred people. She has shown
that certain amount of people carry certain characteristics. The first three lines can be an
example to support this statement, like, ‘Out of every hundred people, / those who always
know better: fifty-two’ (Theatlantic.com). The statistical number fifty-two is representing the
characteristics of people who know things better than the rest. The rest of the amount that is
the number of forty-eight people are, ‘Unsure of every step’ (Theatlantic.com). However, at
the end of the poem the poet has fixed a universal character of the human being, which is
mortality. Here, the number one hundred has completed a circle where no variation is
allowed. Mortality is applicable for each human being. No one can alter this characteristic.

2UNDERSTAND HUMAN CHARECTERISTICS ON NUMBERS
The last stanza of the poem is the portrayal of the main theme: ‘mortal: one hundred out of
one hundred- / a figure that has never varied yet’ (Theatlantic.com).
The poem has used numbers as symbols to represent the variety of human
characteristics. The numbers have worked as a portion of a whole; the whole is applicable for
all and the portion represents different characteristics of different human being. For example,
according to the poet’s statistical data the forty-nine out of one hundred people are ‘Ready to
help, / if it doesn’t take long’ (Theatlantic.com). The number ‘forty-nine’ could be poet’s
imagination, as she believes that four or five people are always good in any situation as their
characteristics are like that. They cannot be an alternative of their goodness. However, the
number four or five are the symbolization of good people, which is a fraction of a whole.
Eighteen out of hundred people could be able to praise other people without being jealous.
More or less than sixty people are led to mistakes influencing by the youth. The seventy-
seven people carry characteristics of persistent dismay as if they co-exist with constant fear.
In this manner, the poet has shown the method of symbolization of numbers. The different
amount of numbers represents different human characteristics. However, each number
symbolizes a constant character of the human life, which is death.
The poem, ‘A Word on Statistics’ is representation of conflict between variable and
non-variable characteristics of life. Apart from death, everything is variable in human’s life.
The conflict has started at the beginning of the poem with an agenda of survey. The poet
wants to conduct a survey on characteristics of human life. There is projection of different
numbers showing different characteristics. The conflict, which is related to different
numerology on human life’s characteristics, has continued throughout the poem. These are all
the variable factors of life. The factors vary according to the context. Like, ‘twenty-some-odd
at most’ are ‘capable of happiness’ or thirty people could be very much materialistic. They
get ‘nothing out of life except things’ (Theatlantic.com). The numbers vary with the features

3UNDERSTAND HUMAN CHARECTERISTICS ON NUMBERS
of human nature. The only non-variable characteristic is death. Human life is bound by death.
The conflict between variable and non-variable has been resolved at the end of the poem
where the poet announces that mortality is the only characteristic of human life, which no one
can alter.
The tone or attitude of this poem is to reach a truth of life. The truth of human life is
that they are the mortal being. Their life has a beginning as well as an end. The end is
declared by the death. No one can escape from this reality. The poet, Maria Wisława Anna
Szymborska has proven this truth by showing a statistical calculation. The calculation has
reached its completion when the poet has concluded at the end of the poem with the
limitation of human life. The limitation is defined by the death. The poet has stated that out of
hundred people each one is a mortal being. There is no variation of this rule.
The poet has used different types of imagery throughout the poem. In stanza eight, the
poet has compelled the reader to imagine that someone is constantly watching from their
back. The stanza eight is, ‘Living in constant fear of someone or something’, which means
that the poet has used imagery of someone is continuously watching to hurt. Out of hundred,
seventy-seven people are suffering from this constant fear.
Imagery also has been used in stanza ten. The word ‘clouds’ is represented for crowd.
The stanza ten is, ‘Harmless singly, savage in / clouds / -Half at least’ (Theatlantic.com).
Here the possible imagery is that a person who wants to perform brutality towards something
or someone hides in crowd where one can hide his or her identity. The poet has used ‘clouds’
as an imagery to depict crowd. At least half the number of total people is ‘‘Harmless singly,
savage in / clouds’ (Theatlantic.com).
Repetition, a literary device has been used in this poem by continuously stating a
number of possible human characteristics that he might possess. The number of people out of

4UNDERSTAND HUMAN CHARECTERISTICS ON NUMBERS
one hundred people who possess the characteristics follows it. The repetition has occurred
throughout each stanza of this poem. The number and the possible human characteristics have
been repeated in recurrence.
Conclusion
It can be concluded by stating that ‘A Word on Statistics’ is a poem that shows human
characteristics based on the statistical data. However, every human possess characteristic of
mortality. This is the final statement of the poem. The poet has contributed to the statistics by
calculating the human nature. The final word of the poet is that every human life is bound by
death.

5UNDERSTAND HUMAN CHARECTERISTICS ON NUMBERS
Reference
Theatlantic.com. "A Word On Statistics - 97.05." Theatlantic.Com, 2017,
https://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/unbound/poetry/antholog/szymbors/stats.htm.