Herbert was introduced to the bigger audience in "Premiera pięciu poetów" ("The debut of five poets") in magazine "Życie Literackie" (#51, December 1955). He was presented together with other young poets, such as Miron Białoszewski, Bohdan Drozdowski, Stanisław Czycz and Jerzy Harasymowicz. In 1956 he published his debut book of poetry "Struna światła" ("Chord of Light") and year later another one "Hermes, pies i gwiazda" ("Hermes, Dog and Star"). A relatively late debut of Herbert made him belong to the modern generation in literature which appeared after 1956, whereas biographically he belonged to the same generation as Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński and Tadeusz Różewicz.