«A Poet in Russia Is More Than a Poet»

«A poet in Russia is more than a poet» Sergei Alexandrovich Yesenin 1895 –1925 Мы теперь уходим We'll depart this world for понемногу ever, surely, Много дум я в тишине продумал, I have thought in silence days and hours, Много песен про себя сложил, I have written songs. And I don`t grieve. И на этой на земле угрюмой I am happy in this gloomy world of ours To have had a chance to breathe and live. Счастлив тем, что я дышал и жил Sergei Alexandrovich Yesenin And many people in his native country and abroad are captivated by his wonderful poems even now. His poetry was translated into 11 languages. He was incredibly gifted and talented. He also was handsome and very attractive for people. Everywhere women fell in love with him. He loved his country so deeply and passionately. He praised its beauty, nature, women in his beautiful poems. When I hear “Russia” I always have Yesenin in my mind – his photo or his poetry. He had “very Russian” character He was one of the most famous and loved poets of and was deeply devoted to Russia in the XX century. He had written poems for all his not too long life. He started to write when Russian nature. he was only nine. He couldn't help writing. Rhymes like a flock of birds always crowded in his mind. He had a great number of admirers of his talent. Sergei Alexandrovich Yesenin was born in Konstantinovo in the Ryazan region of the Russian Empire in a poor peasant family. He had spent most of his childhood in his grandparents' house. His granny`s fairy tales and folk songs were among his first childhood impressions. He began to write poetry at the age of nine. His grandfather, grandmother and three uncles brought up the boy. His uncles and grandfather taught him to fight, to claim the trees and to swim rather in a rude manner. The boy was very often with scratches and bruises. When his granny had pity to him, his granddad always said: “Don`t touch him! He will be stronger.” so…such way the character of Yesenin was formed. Childhood and youth After finishing a local school in Konstantinovo he continued to study at special school to become a teacher in a village. It was his relatives` dream but it wasn`t his. In 1912 he moved to Moscow where he worked as a corrector of the press in the publishing house and then in the printing house of I.D. Sytin. Exactly in that period he His father Alexander sided with (примкнул) Sergei Yesenin Nikitich and mother workers who had 1912 Tatyana Fyodorovna revolutionary views. 1905г. That`s why he was under surveillance (под надзором) of the police. Sergei Alexandrovich Yesenin "МНОГО ЖЕНЩИН МЕНЯ ЛЮБИЛО, ДА И САМ Я ЛЮБИЛ НЕ ОДНУ" Here, in the printing house, Sergei met Anna Izryadnova. She became his common-law wife and loved him very much. They had a son Yuri but Yesenin soon left the family. He wanted to devote his life to writing poems. He wanted to write so much that he even couldn`t work, spend time at work like other people did. He Anna Izryadnova. wanted to give all his time to poetry. His youth In 1913 he entered the Moscow State University and had been studying there for a year and a half. In 1915, he moved to Petrograd where he met fellow-poets Alexander Blok, Sergei Gorodetsky and Andrei Bely. It Yesenin in 1914 was in Petrograd where he became well- known in literary society and had the first success. All literary circles, even Vyacheslav Ivanov and Alexander Blok themselves, were captured and charmed with Yesenin muse. His poems appeared immediately in several issues. Literary début He made friends with Nikolai Klyuev in Petrograd. And he had a significant influence on the young poet. They appeared together with poems and chastushkas acting in a “peasant “and “national “manner. In 1916, Yesenin published his first collection of poems, “Radunitsa” (Радуница). He became one of the most popular poets of that time . Critics realized a fresh stream in him, marked young spontaneity Sergei Yesenin with Nikolai and native taste. People spoke Klyuev. Autumn, 1916. with admiration about his poems. Money and invitations to literary salons of patrons (меценаты) began to fall down on him like from the horn of plenty. Клюеву Теперь любовь моя не та. Ах, знаю я, ты тужишь, тужишь To Klyuyev My love has changed. I know you feel О том, что лунная метла Upset about the situation: Стихов не расплескала лужи. The crescent's sweeper couldn't spill The pools of lyrical creation. Грустя и радуясь звезде, Спадающей тебе на брови, Upset, but taking in good part The star that fell upon your brows, Ты сердце выпеснил избе, You spilt you heart about the house Но в сердце дома не построил. But there's no house in your heart. И тот, кого ты ждал в ночи, The one you waited for to greet Прошел, как прежде, мимо крова. Has passed your shelter like a cynic. My friend, whomever did you gild О друг, кому ж твои ключи The key for with your singing lyric? Ты золотил поющим словом? You'll never versify the sun Тебе о солнце не пропеть And never see the Heaven's bound. В окошко не увидеть рая. Just like a mill that flaps its fan But cannot tear off the ground. Так мельница, крылом махая, 1918 С земли не может улететь. 1918 From 1916 till 1917, Yesenin had joined the army where he served as a hospital attendant. But soon after the Great October Revolution 1917, Russia stopped to take part in the World War I. Believing that the revolution would bring a better life, Yesenin first supported it. But soon he was disappointed and sometimes criticized the authority of Bolsheviks in his poems. In August 1917 Yesenin married the second time a secretary(an actress then), Zinaida Reich. (Райх) They had two children, a daughter Tatyana and a son Konstantin. Konstantin Yesenin became a well-known statistician of football later. Zinaida Reich. This wonderful poem was devoted to Zinaida Reich after their divorce which was very painful for both. She married Meyerhold, a famous stage director of that time. Later Yesenin told his friends that he really loved only Zinaida. Письмо к женщине A Letter to the Woman Yes, you remember, Вы помните, You certainly remember Вы все, конечно, помните, The way I listened Как я стоял, Standing at the wall Приблизившись к стене, As you walked to and fro about the Взволнованно ходили вы по комнате chamber И что-то резкое Reproving me В лицо бросали мне. With bitter words and all. Вы говорили: You said Нам пора расстаться, That it was time we'd parted, Что вас измучила And that my reckless life, Моя шальная жизнь, For you, was an ordeal, Что вам пора за дело приниматься, And it was time a new life you had started А мой удел - While I was fated Катиться дальше, вниз. To go rolling downhill. Любимая! My love! Меня вы не любили. You didn't care for me, no doubt. Не знали вы, что в сонмище людском You weren't aware of the fact that Я был, как лошадь, загнанная в мыле, I Was like a ruined horse, amidst the crowd, Пришпоренная смелым ездоком Spurred by a dashing rider, flashing by. Imagism (Имажинизм) In search of new images Yesenin came closer with Mariyengof, Shershenevich and Ivlev. In the early 1919 they were united in the group of imagists. And Sergei Alexandrovich became a frequent customer (завсегдатаем) of “The stall of Pegasus” (“Стойло Пегаса”). It was a literary café in Moscow where imagists gathered. Yesenin and Shershenevich (are sitting), Shorshevskaya A.B., Marijengof I.V., Gruzinov I.V. Yesenin and Duncan After final decision to have broken off their relations with Zinaida Reich Yesenin took easy meeting with women, he drank with pleasure and kicked up a row in taverns. He was homeless and shelterless when Isadora Duncan burst into his life. She was a famous dancer and came to Russia to open a dancing studio for Russian girls. Yesenin thought he couldn`t fall in love any more before Isadora. That`s why he was very exited by his new feeling. Yesenin and Duncan His meeting with a famous dancer Isadora Duncan was a great event in Yesenin`s life. It was in autumn 1921. She became his wife six months later although he couldn`t speak foreign languages and Isadora knew about twenty Russian words. Moreover she was 15 years older but Yesenin was dazzled by her talent. He dreamt about a talent child from her and was full of wonderful plans for future. Yesenin and Duncan She brought him abroad . They travelled together to Germany, Belgium, France, Italy and America. All their trips were accompanied with sensational scandals and shocking mad tricks of Yesenin and Isadora. Yesenin was greatly bored there because he was only a husband of a famous wife but not a great poet. She didn`t give him an opportunity to write poetry. And Sergei This couple struck, attracted interest Alexandrovich suffered very and curiosity. It caused many gossips much. Because he had and rumours. always knew that he was a poet “with the capital letter.” Yesenin abroad Europe met the poet like an enemy, like a Bolshevik. They were not interested in his poetry nor in the personality of the poet himself. Sergei Yesenin found himself separated. He was only a husband of a famous dancer there.

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