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“Advertisement” Introduction
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"Advertisement" first appeared in Wisława Szymborska's 1972 collection Could Have; this English-language version is translated from the Polish original by Stanisław Barańczak. The poem is a dramatic monologue from the perspective of a "tranquilizer," or sedative drug, that's advertising its benefits to prospective buyers. The speaker promises not only to help with relaxation and sleep but to "cushion" all of life's miseries—including existential ones, such as "God's absence" and fear of the "abyss." Its sales pitch hints that, for modern consumers, medication has replaced the religions that would once have helped them cope with their troubles. At the same time, the speaker warns that, like a deal with the "devil," these drugs can take more than they give.
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“Advertisement” Summary
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I'm a sedative drug, effective both in the home and in the workplace. I can help when you're taking exams or a witness in court (i.e., even in high-stress situations). I can help you carefully fix a cracked cup (i.e., help you solve daily problems). You just need to swallow me as a pill: melt me in your mouth and wash me down with water.
I can help you manage bad luck and bad news. I can make the world seem less unfair, make the lack of a God seem less serious, or assist you in the grieving process (like a woman's mourning veil). Why hesitate? Place your trust in my synthetic form of kindness.
You're not a grown man or woman yet; you still have time to figure out how to relax. What makes you think you have to stoically accept suffering?
Let me handle your fear that everything's meaningless and empty. I'll put you to sleep and take the edge off it. You'll be grateful that I made you the equivalent of an unthinking animal.
In exchange, give up your core identity. There's no longer any "Devil," or anyone else, who'll buy your soul off you.
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“Advertisement” Themes
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The False Comfort of Self-Medication
The speaker of "Advertisement" is a personified "tranquilizer" (a sedative or anti-anxiety drug) advertising its benefits to a potential buyer. This speaker promises to ease all the difficulties "you" face in life, from "misfortune" and "bad news" to "injustice" and "God's absence." Yet the poem suggests that this comfort is false; instead of offering any actual solutions to one’s problems, the tranquilizer is merely a numbing distraction from the painful reality of being alive. And in return for this distraction, the poem warns, such medications foster dependency and addiction—so steep a price that you might as well be "Sell[ing] your soul."
The speaker (again, a "tranquilizer") promises to relieve pain of all kinds. It vows to help "handle" everything from daily work challenges to anxiety stemming from the loss of religious belief. In other words, it's an all-purpose treatment for "your" pain, fear, stress, and existential angst (that is, dread tied to the sense that life is ultimately meaningless). It rhetorically asks, “Who said / you have to take it on the chin?”—essentially seducing people with the promise of escaping, rather than stoically accepting, misfortune and grief.
In return, the tranquilizer asks for people’s "faith" in its "compassion" and invites them to "Sell” it their souls—to become dependent upon it and, in doing so, relinquish part of their humanity. Indeed, the poem implies that the comforts of modern medication are not just false but totally inhuman and dehumanizing. The tranquilizer can only offer "chemical compassion" and "lighten up God's absence" rather than compensate for that absence with some other source of higher meaning. Even in inviting you to "Sell me your soul," the speaker can only promise sedation—not power, knowledge, pleasure, or any of the traditional rewards offered in "deal with the Devil" stories. The speaker promises to "cushion" the existential "abyss" (the sense that life is meaningless) with the dullness of "sleep" rather than any meaning, pleasure, etc. The speaker also offers the comfort of "four paws to fall on"—that is, to reduce people to an unthinking animal.
By extension, the poem suggests that part of being human, of having a “soul” to sell, is confronting the things medication allows people to avoid. The speaker offers an artificial relief that merely feels like divine "compassion," or else like the kind of pleasures and comforts people sell their "soul[s]" for in morality tales about dealing with the Devil. In the end, the poem implies that these pills are a way of evading—rather than healing—the pain of being human.
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-28
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Modern Anxiety and Loss of Faith
The speaker of “The Advertisement,” a personified tranquilizer shilling itself to potential users, includes "God's absence" in its list of woes that it can relieve. The poem thus links the pain and anxiety of modern life with the loss of religious faith. The poem doesn’t necessarily imply that this loss is good or bad, but it does suggest that human beings naturally long for a sense of meaning and purpose; in a secular modern society, people are searching for something to replace the comfort that religion once offered.
In effect, the speaker poses as a substitute for both God and the Devil, offering people relief from the sense that they’re alone and life is meaningless. Rather than heavenly rewards or earthly power and pleasure, however, the tranquilizer offers only simple, synthetic contentment. For example, rather than providing justice, it claims to “minimize injustice”; rather than divine “compassion,” it offers a “chemical” equivalent. And despite claiming that it can take the edge off “God’s absence” and even “cushion” the hollowness of life, it will only do so if you “Sell [it] your soul,” as if dealing with the Devil.
This might seem like a raw deal, but the speaker argues that there are no other options; the tranquilizer claims that "There are no other takers" for "your soul," suggesting that medication is the only thing skeptical modern people can turn to when they feel desperate, broken, or empty. If no belief system can help their fear of the "abyss," then drugs (and the companies advertising them) will offer the closest substitute.
Rather than claiming to be virtuous or sinful, the drug simply claims to be "effective." Similarly, the poem doesn't flatly suggest that medication is a worse option than religion, just that it addresses a continuing human problem: the need for comfort and meaning when life feels empty.
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 13-17
- Lines 22-25
- Lines 26-28
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Advertisement”
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Lines 1-6
I’m a tranquilizer. ...
... cups with care.Lines 1-6 introduce the anthropomorphic speaker of the poem: a "tranquilizer" drug. Tranquilizers have sedative and anti-anxiety effects; they're designed to relax you, ease your anxiety, and help you fall asleep. This poem is framed as an "Advertisement" in which the drug directly addresses "you," the consumer, and sells you on its benefits. In other words, the poem is both a dramatic monologue and a parody of a print, radio, or TV ad.
The speaker claims that they can help in pretty much any situation:
I’m effective at home.
I work in the office.
I can take exams
or the witness stand.
I mend broken cups with care.In other words, the drug claims to be useful in both domestic and workplace settings, to help people through high-stress situations (such as tests at school or testimony in court), and to help you "care[fully]" complete small tasks, such as "mend[ing] broken cups." There's a metaphorical side to this last claim, too: the speaker seems to imply that they can fix whatever's broken in someone's life or psyche.
This opening is full of short, staccato, end-stopped lines, mimicking the rapid-fire language of many real-world advertisements. (As a parody, the poem draws on a number of actual advertising conventions.) The lines repeatedly begin with "I'm" or "I," as the speaker rattles off their abilities or benefits one right after another. This anaphora again mimics the style of ads, which often list the benefits of their products; at the same time, all the "I"s make the speaker sound boastful and slick, as if they might be promising too much.
Finally, notice the zeugma in lines 4-5, which plays on two slightly different (English-language) uses of the verb "take": "I can take exams / or the witness stand." This is the translator's witty way of rendering Szymborska's original Polish phrase, which uses antithesis and translates more directly to: "I sit for exams, / stand at the trial."
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Lines 7-10
All you have ...
... glass of water.
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Lines 11-15
I know how ...
... suits your face. -
Lines 16-17
What are you ...
... my chemical compassion. -
Lines 18-21
You’re still a ...
... on the chin? -
Lines 22-25
Let me have ...
... to fall on. -
Lines 26-28
Sell me your ...
... other devil anymore.
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“Advertisement” Symbols
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The Tranquilizer
The speaker of this dramatic monologue is supposed to be an actual "tranquilizer"—a sedative or anti-anxiety medication—advertising its benefits to the world. However, the tranquilizer takes on symbolic qualities as well. In the poem's portrayal, it represents an easy, false cure for life's problems. It's associated with complacency and emotional numbness—the desire to check out, distract yourself, and avoid pain rather than confront it.
Since it's framed as a substitute for religious belief, it also represents the kind of scientific solutions favored by a skeptical, modern age. Again, while the poem isn't necessarily pro-religion, it implies that there's something artificial about such "chemical" solutions to life's "misfortune." It associates the tranquilizer with God and the Devil, suggesting that it's taken on aspects of both roles—partly through its ability to create a dependency in its users, as if taking possession of their "soul[s]." Thus, the tranquilizer is ultimately a symbol of power, including the cultural power that religion once held and that science has now assumed.
Where this symbol appears in the poem:- Lines 1-28
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“Advertisement” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Anthropomorphism
"Advertisement" anthropomorphizes its speaker, a "tranquilizer" or sedative medication. The poem is both a dramatic monologue in the voice of this inanimate object and a mock "Advertisement" for the tranquilizer as a product. Naturally, the drug touts its benefits to "you," the potential buyer. It brags about itself and tries to beguile readers with its supposed convenience. "I'm effective at home," it says, for example, adding, "I work in the office. [...] just gulp me / with a glass of water."
If this voice sounds a little unsettling, it's supposed to be! By turning the tranquilizer into a human-like character, shilling itself to customers, the poem dramatizes what it sees as the false promises (and hidden dangers) of these medications. It's really the drug manufacturers who make such promises, of course, but it's more jarring and immediate to hear them in the voice of the drug itself.
Over the course of the poem, the speaker takes on some of the traits of a false God, or the Devil—who is himself, arguably, an anthropomorphic representation of power and evil.
Where anthropomorphism appears in the poem:- Lines 1-28
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Anaphora
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Metaphor
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End-Stopped Line
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Rhetorical Question
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Allusion
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“Advertisement” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Tranquilizer
- Widow's veil
- Unwind
- Take it on the chin
- Abyss
Tranquilizer-
(Location in poem: Line 1: “I’m a tranquilizer.”)
A sedative or anti-anxiety drug; a medication that helps with sleep and relaxation.
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Advertisement”
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Form
"Advertisement" contains six stanzas of varying lengths, including a single-line stanza at the end. It's a free verse poem, meaning that it has no meter or rhyme. (These things are true both in Szymborska's original poem and in Stanisław Barańczak's English-language translation, which follows the Polish text closely. The number and arrangement of lines is also consistent between the two versions.)
The stanzas get shorter as the poem goes on—10, 7, 4, 4, 2, and 1 line(s), respectively—and the sentences are especially short and punchy at the poem's beginning and end. In these ways, the form of "Advertisement" reflects some common features of advertisements in general. Ad copy often begins with an attention-grabbing line or two, explains the benefits of the product, then closes with one or more snappy lines, including a slogan. In this case, the "tranquilizer" begins with a simple introduction ("I'm a tranquilizer"), rattles off a couple of quick benefits ("I’m effective at home. / I work in the office."), then launches into a more extended pitch. Finally, there's a brisk, memorable closer (lines 26-28):
Sell me your soul.
There are no other takers.
There is no other devil anymore.This last phrase, set apart on its own line, could almost be the tranquilizer's slogan!
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Meter
"Advertisement" has no meter; it's a free verse poem, in both the Polish original and the English translation. Its language flows loosely but briskly, like advertising copy that's trying to grab readers' attention with its casual tone.
Interestingly, the translator has chosen to set the final line (line 28) in iambic pentameter, the most common meter in English. In other words, the translated line follows a "da-DUM | da-DUM | da-DUM | da-DUM | da-DUM" rhythm:
There is | no oth- | er dev- | il an- | ymore.
This rhythm doesn't appear in the original (and Polish has different metrical conventions, anyway). But since it's so familiar to readers of English poetry, the translator may have used it here in order to make the last line—which is set apart from the rest, almost like a slogan—more musical and memorable.
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Rhyme Scheme
As a free verse poem (both in the original and in translation), "Advertisement" has no rhyme or rhyme scheme. Again, the plainness and straightforwardness of its language make the poem read like advertising copy. (A highly lyrical, metrical, rhyming structure wouldn't make much sense for any poem imitating the language of ads—unless it were supposed to be a jingle!)
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“Advertisement” Speaker
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The speaker introduces themselves in the first line: "I'm a tranquilizer." The poem is framed as an "Advertisement," and the tranquilizer is the product, selling "you," the potential consumer, on its benefits. In other words, this is not only a mock ad but a dramatic monologue: a poem written in the voice of a character separate from the poet.
It's not unheard of for an advertisement to be delivered in the "voice" of its product, but it's not especially common, either. In the context of the poem, this device has a slightly unsettling quality, as an inanimate drug seems to come alive and push readers to "take [it]."
There's something a little slick and boastful about this voice (it's "advertising" itself, after all), as well as something aggressive. It's claiming all sorts of powers and abilities; as a sedative drug, it promises to work both in the home and in the workplace, in high-pressure situations (such as school examinations and courtroom appearances), and during everyday tasks (such as "mend[ing] broken cups"). Metaphorically, it seems to be suggesting that it can "mend" (heal) the person taking it, too. Ironically, this tranquilizer doesn't sound very relaxed—it's selling itself hard to the consumer!
As the poem goes on, the tranquilizer claims even more power, to the point where it frames itself as a substitute for God and/or the Devil. Even as it's selling itself to "you," it wants you to "Sell me your soul" in return (line 26). Basically, it's asking people to become dependent on it: to give up their normal character and identity in return for the comforting numbness it provides. In this way, the voice breaks out of the language of advertising and into the language of morality tales, such as Faust and other stories in which characters make deals with the Devil. (See the Allusion and Context sections of this guide for more.)
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“Advertisement” Setting
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The poem has no clearly defined physical or geographical setting, although it mentions a few settings:
I’m effective at home.
I work in the office.
I can take exams
or the witness stand.These are settings in which the tranquilizer pill claims to "work." (Basically, it promises to work wherever you need it!) The advertising language in this "Advertisement" suggests that it's set in a relatively modern society, with some form of mass media—print, TV, etc.
The poem's final phrase, "There is no devil anymore," implies that the poem takes place in the present day (i.e., at the time of its publication) rather than in some historical period. It suggests that modern society has secularized and religion—including its gods and "devil[s]"—has lost its force. The poem was published in Poland in 1972 and was likely intended as a commentary on modern European/Western culture.
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Literary and Historical Context of “Advertisement”
Literary Context
Wisława Szymborska (1923-2012) has become known around the world as the premier Polish poet of her generation. Awarded the 1996 Nobel Prize in Literature for her life's work, she has gained a devoted audience both in her native Polish and in translation. Many of her best-known poems—including "The End and the Beginning," "Photograph from September 11," and "Vietnam"—confront war and disaster from unexpected perspectives.
"Advertisement" appeared in Szymborska's 1972 collection Wszelki wypadek (Could Have). This English-language version has been translated from the Polish by poet and critic Stanisław Barańczak (1946-2014), a junior contemporary of Szymborska's. It closely follows the style and structure of the original (titled "Prospekt"), though it adapts some of Szymborska's phrasing into idiomatic English. For example, lines 20-21 of the original translate more literally as "Who said / that life is to be lived boldly?"; Barańczak renders this colloquially as "Who said / you have to take it on the chin?"
The poem's references to soul-selling (lines 26-28) draw on a long tradition of myths and legends involving deals with the Devil. The most famous of these is the German legend of Faust, who sells his soul to Mephistopheles (the Devil) in exchange for knowledge and sensual pleasures. The Faust story has featured in several well-known works of Western literature, including Christopher Marlowe's play Doctor Faustus (c. 1592) and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's two-part play Faust (1808, 1832).
Historical Context
"Advertisement" was published in the 1970s, at a time when minor tranquilizers (in pill form) had been in popular use throughout the Western world for 20 years. The first such drug to be widely marketed (advertised, as in the poem) was called Miltown; it was introduced in the 1950s and became a staple in the popular culture of the period. (It appeared in the poetry of the period, too, including Robert Lowell's "Man and Wife," from his landmark 1959 collection Life Studies.)
The poem also emerged in a largely (though, of course, not entirely) secularized society. Throughout much of Europe, the cultural predominance of organized religion had declined since the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This decline accelerated in the period spanning World War I and World War II, events that caused massive social upheaval and tested or broke the faith of many who witnessed them. (The poet's native Poland, which became an independent country after WWI, was the site of bloody fighting and atrocities in both wars.)
"Advertisement" registers this general cultural shift away from a worldview defined by religion, toward one in which science—including the medical science that produces mood-altering drugs—held something like the same cultural authority. In fact, it suggests that "chemical compassion" is the only kind its culture now offers, and that science and medicine produce the only "God[s]" and "devil[s]" still available.
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More “Advertisement” Resources
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External Resources
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Szymborska: A Retrospective — Read the New York Times's 2021 obituary of the poet, which looks back at her award-winning career.
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A Celebration of the Poet — Watch the 92Y program "Celebrating Wisława Szymborska" (2015).
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Szymborska, Nobel Laureate — A biography and other materials related to Wisława Szymborska, winner of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Literature.
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The Poet's Life and Work — Read a biography of Szymborska at the Poetry Foundation.
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A Conversation with the Poet — Watch a 1995 profile featuring a conversation with Szymborska.
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