Pasternak's poetry: a guide for beginners. The creative and life path of Boris Leonidovich parsnip
If it is true that the artist creates so that people will love him, and this is hinted at by the line that sets the poet the task of “attracting the love of space,” then Pasternak, not only in literature, but also in life, was all such creativity.
There is something in common between the work of his father - the wonderful Russian painter Leonid Pasternak - and his own. The artist Leonid Pasternak captured the moment, he drew everywhere: at concerts, at a party, at home, on the street, making instant sketches. His drawings seemed to stop time. His famous portraits are extraordinarily alive. And after all, in essence, his eldest son Boris Leonidovich Pasternak did the same in poetry: he created a chain of metaphors, as if stopping and observing a phenomenon in its diversity. But a lot was passed on from my mother: her complete dedication, the ability to live only through art.
At the very beginning of his poetic path, in 1912, Pasternak found very succinct words to express his poetry:
And, as if in unheard of faith,
I'm crossing this night,
Where the poplar is faded gray
He hung the lunar boundary.
Where is labor as a revealed secret,
Where the surf whispers to the apple trees,
Where the garden hangs like a pile construction
And holds the sky before him.
(“Like a brazier with bronze ash”)
To join the poetic life of Moscow, Pasternak joined a group of poets headed by Yulian Anisimov. This group was called "Lyrics". And the first published poems were those included in the collection “Lyrics,” published in 1913. These poems were not included by the author in any of his books and were not reprinted during his lifetime.
I dreamed of autumn in the half-light of glass,
Friends and you are in their buffoonish crowd,
And, like a falcon drawing blood from heaven,
The heart descended onto your hand.
But time passed, and grew old, and became deaf,
And weave silver frames,
The dawn from the garden washed over the glass
Bloody tears of September.
But time passed and grew old. And loose,
Like ice, the silk of the chairs crackled and melted.
Suddenly, loudly, you faltered and became silent,
And the dream, like the echo of a bell, fell silent.
I woke up. It was dark like autumn
Dawn, and the wind, moving away, carried
Like a rain of straws running behind a cart,
A row of birches running across the sky.
In 1914, his independent collection was published, which he called “Twin in the Clouds.” The collection did not attract much attention. Only Valery Bryusov spoke approvingly of him. Pasternak himself said: “I tried to avoid romantic play, extraneous interest. I didn't need to thunder them from the stage. I did not achieve a distinct rhythm, dance and song, from the action of which, almost without the participation of words, the legs and arms begin to move by themselves. My constant concern was for maintenance. My constant dream was that the poem itself should contain something, that it would contain “a new thought or a new picture.”
The poems written in those years were then partially included by Pasternak in the cycle “Initial Time” - the cycle with which his collections of poems usually began to open.
I grew up. Me, like Ganimer,
They brought bad weather, they brought dreams.
Troubles grew like wings
And they were separated from the earth.
I grew up. And woven Compline
The veil enveloped me.
Let's parting words with wine in glasses,
The game of sad glass...
(“I grew up. Me, like Ganimer...”)
In 1917, even before the October Revolution, a second book of poems, “Over Barriers,” was published with censorship restrictions. These books constituted the first period of Pasternak's work, the period of searching for his poetic face.
Early Pasternak strove for “material expressiveness” within the framework of “objective thematism,” and this was primarily achieved in the structure of the image. The poetic image corresponds to reality, but this correspondence is special properties. The image is built on the associative convergence of objects, phenomena, states. It is specific within the local limits of the topic and at the same time conveys the internal integrity, the indivisibility of life. The early period ends with the poem "Marburg".
...some people were blinded by it all. To others -
That darkness seemed like it could gouge out your eyes.
The chickens were digging in the dahlia bushes,
Crickets and dragonflies ticked like cups.
The tiles floated and the midday looked
Without blinking, onto the ladle. And in Marburg
Who, whistling loudly, made a crossbow,
Who silently prepared for the Trinity Fair...
It can be said, without disparaging a number of other, perhaps even more perfect poems at that time, that it was in “Marburg” that Pasternak saw life “in a new way and as if for the first time,” that is, he achieved mature originality of poetic thought.
In 1922, a collection of poems, “My Sister is Life,” was published. And it was written mainly in 1917, at the beginning of the revolutionary era. “Summer of 1917” is its subtitle. This book brought Pasternak wide fame and nominated him among the famous Russian poets of the post-revolutionary era. Pasternak himself perceived the collection as a statement of his own creative poetry. He wrote about this collection of his poems: “...I was completely indifferent to the name of the power that gave the book, because it was immeasurably greater than me and the poetic concepts that surrounded me.”
In the summer of 1917, Pasternak traveled on a personal occasion and observed the seething Russia with his own eyes. Later, in 1956, in a manuscript entitled “My Sister is Life,” intended for the essay “People and Positions,” he recalled: “Forty years have passed. From such a distance and time ago, voices can no longer be heard from the crowds meeting day and night on open-air summer platforms, as at a daytime meeting. But even at such a distance I continue to see these meetings as silent spectacles or as frozen living pictures.
Many alarmed and wary souls stopped each other, flocked, crowded, and thought out loud. People from the people vented their souls and talked about the most important things, about how and why to live and in what ways to arrange the only conceivable and worthy existence.
The infectious universality of their rise blurred the boundary between man and nature. In this famous summer of 1917, in the interval between two revolutionary periods, roads, trees and stars rallied and spoke together with people. From end to end the air was filled with a thousand-year-old hot inspiration and seemed like a person with a name, seemed clairvoyant and animated.”
Poetry was an inner, spiritual need for him. But money was needed. He began to earn money by transfers already in 1918 – 1921. During this period, he translated five poetic dramas by Kleist and Ben Jonson, intercomedies by Hans Sachs, the lyricist Goethe, S. van Lerbargh and the German impressionists.
Already in the 20s, Pasternak felt a gravitation towards epic forms - more precisely, towards epic forms with lyrical, very subjective content. History and his own life in the past become for him the main themes of his large works.
In 1925, Pasternak began to write a poetic novel - the poem "Spektorsky" - which was largely autobiographical. The poetic cycle “High Disease”, the poems “Nine Hundred and Fifth” and “Lieutenant Schmidt” are created. In the fateful year of 1937, the publishing house "Soviet Writer" published Pasternak's revolutionary poems "Lieutenant Schmidt" and "1905". The design of the book is noteworthy: a uniform red star on a gray cover, like the overcoat of an NKVD officer. Obviously, this book was supposed to serve as “the poet’s safe conduct, something like a document certifying his “revolutionary consciousness” and civic loyalty.” In 1928, the idea of his prose book “Safety Certificate” appeared, which he completed only two years later. According to Pasternak himself, “these are autobiographical passages about how my ideas about art developed and where they are rooted.”
In 1931, Pasternak went to the Caucasus and wrote poems included in the “Waves” cycle, which reflected his impressions of the Caucasus and Georgia.
Everything will be here: the experience
And what I still live by
My aspirations and foundations,
And seen in reality.
The waves of the sea are in front of me.
There are many of them. It's impossible for them to count
Their darkness. They make noise in a minor key.
The surf bakes them like waffles.
("Waves")
Pasternak's rebirth is associated with impressions from a trip to the Urals in the summer of 1932. Much later, Pasternak recalled: “In the early thirties there was such a movement among writers - they began to travel to collective farms, collect materials for books about new village. I wanted to be with everyone and also went on such a trip with the idea of writing a book. What I saw there cannot be expressed in any words. It was such an inhuman, unimaginable grief, such a terrible disaster that it... did not fit into the boundaries of consciousness. I got sick and couldn’t sleep for a whole year.”
When the poet regained the gift of creative speech, his style changed beyond recognition. The worldview and sense of life have changed. He himself was transformed.
The new book was called “On Early Trains” - based on a poem written in January 1941. This is how and this is what Pasternak wrote now:
In the hot stuffiness of the carriage
I gave it my all
A burst of innate weakness
And sucked with milk.
Through the vicissitudes of the past
And years of wars and poverty
I silently recognized Russia
Unique features.
Overcoming adoration
I watched, idolizing
There were women, Sloboda residents,
Mechanic apprentices.
Amazing poems! Completely free from everything “chaotic and cluttered” that came from the aesthetics of modernism. And these lines are not only marked by unheard-of simplicity. They are imbued with living warmth and love for the poet’s morning companions. Where has the detachment of the early poems gone!
But it’s not just a warm feeling for the “locksmiths” that inspired the poems. The poet, who just recently was fascinated by peering into the “grass under his feet” in search of poetry, discovered “the unique features of Russia.” And he saw what only “the eyes of the prophet” could see. People’s faces seem to be illuminated by the reflection of future battles, cleared of everyday husks, and inscribed in history.
The turn of the forties separates two periods of Pasternak’s creative path. Late Pasternak is characterized by classical simplicity and clarity. His poems are inspired by the presence of the “huge image of Russia” revealed to the poet.
In 1943, Pasternak traveled with a brigade of writers to the front, to the army that liberated Oryol. The result of the trip was the essays “The Liberated City” and “A Trip to the Army,” as well as poems depicting episodes of the battle: “Death of a Sapper,” “Persecution,” “Scouts.”
In a frenzy as if in prayer
From the corpse of a poor child
We flew over ditches and potholes
Chasing the murderers.
The clouds rolled in at intervals,
And themselves, menacing as a cloud,
We are with the devil and jokes
Their viper nests were crushed.
("Persecution")
Pasternak's poetry during the war is unfinished, carrying questions and possibilities that have not been fully identified.
Pasternak paid much attention to love lyrics. According to Yevtushenko, after Pushkin, perhaps no one felt a woman as much as Pasternak:
And since from early childhood
I am wounded by a woman's share.
And the trace of the poet is only a trace
Her ways are no more...
And that’s why this whole night in the snow is double,
And I can’t draw boundaries between us...
Say goodbye to the abyss of humiliation
A challenging woman!
I am your battlefield.
If there are such beautiful poems, there are also women to whom these poems are dedicated. And they were.
The love of others is a heavy cross,
And you are beautiful without gyrations,
And your beauty is a secret
It is tantamount to the solution to life.
In spring the rustling of dreams is heard
And the rustle of news and truths.
You come from a family of such fundamentals.
Your meaning, like air, is selfless.
It's easy to wake up and see clearly,
Straighten out verbal trash from the heart
And live without getting clogged in the future.
All this is not a big trick.
(“Loving others is a heavy cross”)
This is what Boris Pasternak wrote about his wife Zinaida Nikolaevna. With great love, tenderness and admiration.
Pasternak also wrote his lyrical poems about his great friend O. V. Ivinskaya. She was very dear and close to him. He was afraid of losing her.
You also take off your dress
Like a grove shedding its leaves,
When you fall into a hug
In a robe with a silk tassel.
You are the blessing of a disastrous step,
When life is sicker than illness,
And the root of beauty is courage,
And this draws us to each other.
("Autumn")
The year was 1946. The famous novel Doctor Zhivago, which was regarded by its author almost as a definitive novel, began long before it took on its novel form. Ideas were ahead of form.
The war ended and new hopes appeared. Pasternak wanted to do something big, significant - then the idea of a novel arose. He began it with a sketch of the old estate. There clearly appeared to be a large estate, which different generations had redesigned according to their own tastes, and the earth retains barely visible traces of flower beds and paths.
“Doctor Zhivago” is not a novel at all, but a kind of autobiography of Pasternak himself - an autobiography in which, surprisingly, there are no external facts that coincide with the real life of the author. Nevertheless, Pasternak seems to be writing about himself for someone else. This is Pasternak's spiritual autobiography, which confuses the inexperienced reader with its attraction to lyrical poetry.
The main character - Yuri Zhivago - a doctor, thinking, searching, creative, dies in 1929. After him, notes remain, and among other papers - individual poems written in his youth, which in their entirety constitute the last, final chapter of the novel.
Goodbye, wingspan spread,
Flight of free perseverance,
And the image of the world, revealed in words,
Both creativity and miracles.
These lines end the poem “August,” written by Pasternak in 1953 and included in the text of “Doctor Zhivago.” The lines are a farewell to the novel, work on which has been completed. It lasted a long time, seven years.
Indeed, Doctor Zhivago is an outstanding work, neither “right” nor “left”, but simply a novel from revolutionary era, written by a poet - straightforward, pure and truthful, full of Christian humanism, with a sublime idea of man, not as popular, of course, as Gorky’s: “Man - that sounds proud!” - There is no bad taste in Pasternak, just as there is no pose or cheap stiltedness. A novel that very faithfully depicts the era of revolution, but is not propaganda. And real art has never been a propaganda leaflet.
A brief chronological table of Pasternak is best way quickly familiarize yourself with the biography of the great poet. This memo will be especially useful for schoolchildren and graduates who need to know the basic facts from the life and work of the author. The table concentrates precisely those events that had the greatest impact on the future fate of Boris Leonidovich.
Biography of Pasternak by date includes information about the poet’s birth, his youth, personal life and creative activities, recent years life of a popular author. Looking through it, you will learn about the most difficult stages of the figure’s fate. Here are his ups and downs, his successes and failures. One of the main works of Boris Leonidovich, “Doctor Zhivago,” did not go unnoticed. Chronological table You can easily find Pasternak’s life on our website.
1890, January 29 (February 10)– B. Pasternak was born in Moscow. Father is artist Leonid Osipovich Pasternak, mother is pianist Rosalia Isidorovna, nee Kaufman.
1908, August– Enters the Faculty of Law of Moscow University. At the same time, while still at the gymnasium, he is taking a composition course according to the conservatory program, and is preparing to take exams as an external student.
1909, May– Transferred to the philosophical department of the historical and philological faculty of the university.
1910, February– The first surviving poems of the poet who for a long time diligently hid his literary talent.
1911, January 10– Report “Symbolism and Immortality” in the Young Symbolist circle at the Musaget publishing house.
1912, May-August– Trip to Germany;
studying during the summer semester with Professor G. Cohen at the Faculty of Philosophy
University of Marburg;
two week stay in Italy.
1913, April– The first publication of B. L. Pasternak’s poems in the collective collection “Lyrics”;
Graduates from the university with the title of Candidate of Philosophy from Moscow University.
1914
– The first collection of the futuristic group “Centrifuge” is published - “Rukonog” with poems and an article by B. Pasternak;
The first meeting with V. Mayakovsky takes place.
1916 – Release of the book of poems “Above Barriers”.
1917
– Revolution in Russia;
B. Pasternak is working on the book “Sister is my life.”
1917-1918 – Work on the story “Childhood Grommets.”
1921 – Parents’ departure to Berlin.
1922
– Marriage to the artist Evgenia Vladimirovna Lurie;
Pasternak began corresponding with Marina Tsvetaeva, who was living in France at that time.
1922-1923 – Stay in Germany, participation in the literary life of Berlin.
1924 – The magazine “LEF” publishes the poem “High Disease”, in which B. Pasternak tries to express his understanding of the October Revolution.
1925-1930 – Work on a novel in verse “Spectorsky”, where Pasternak, feeling a craving for the epic form, for the first time makes an attempt to combine prose (“Tale”) and poetry (“Spectorsky”) in one work.
1925-1926 - He writes the poem “Nine Hundred and Fifth Year” - an epic “inspired by time.”
1926-1927
– Writes the poem “Lieutenant Schmidt”;
breaks with the LEF group, calling the work of the LEF members “handicraft semi-art” on the topic of the day.
1931
– An autobiographical story “Safety Certificate” is published, dedicated to the memory of R.M. Rilke;
marriage to Zinaida Nikolaevna Neuhaus;
trip to Georgia, the beginning of a strong friendship with Georgian poets Titian Tabidze and Paolo Yashvili, whose poems he translates a lot.
1932 – New love– a new creative takeoff: a book of poems “Second Birth” is published.
1936 – Attacks on the poet from the loyal press are intensifying. Pasternak, trying to be further away from official literary life, goes to his dacha in Peredelkino, where he works on translations.
1937
– Suicide of Paolo Yashvili;
arrest and execution by the verdict of the NKVD “troika” Titian Tabidze.
1940
– Release of the collection “Selected Translations” from Western European poetry;
the first poems from the “Peredelkino” cycle.
1941
– Translates and publishes “Hamlet”;
begins work on the translation of Romeo and Juliet.
1943 – As part of the writing team, B. Pasternak goes to the Bryansk Front.
1945 – B. L. Pasternak’s last lifetime poetry book, “Selected Poems and Poems,” is published.
1945-1955 – Working on the novel “Doctor Zhivago”.
1946, autumn– B. Pasternak’s first nomination for the Nobel Prize: his candidacy was proposed by English writers for lyrical works. In the homeland this is time goes by outright persecution of the poet, his books are destroyed, devastating articles are published.
1953 – Publication of the translation of Goethe’s “Faust” as a separate book.
1954 – Nomination for the Nobel Prize. The USSR government did not approve of Pasternak's candidacy, proposing Sholokhov.
1956
– Submits the manuscript of the novel “Doctor Zhivago” to the editors of the magazines “ New world” and “Banner”, almost simultaneously the manuscript falls into the hands of the Milanese communist publisher G. Feltrinelli;
writes an autobiographical essay “People and Positions”, the last cycle of poems “When it clears up” has begun.
1957
– A set of a book of selected poems prepared at Goslitizdat has been scattered;
Pasternak was summoned to the CPSU Central Committee with a demand to stop the publication of the novel in Italy, but in November the novel was Italian saw the light, then it was translated into many other languages of the world.
1958, October 23– Award of the Nobel Prize in Literature for the novel “Doctor Zhivago”;
the Literaturnaya Gazeta published a letter from the editorial board of Novy Mir, accompanied by an editorial entitled “A provocative attack by international reaction”;
B. Pasternak is expelled from the USSR Writers' Union. As a result of all this harassment, I am forced to refuse the bonus.
1959 – A poem is published in an English newspaper. Nobel Prize”, after which B. L. Pasternak was summoned to the Prosecutor General R. A. Rudenko, charged with treason and prohibited from meeting with foreigners.
1. To which literary direction does the work of B. Pasternak relate to?
B. Pasternak was a member of one of the groups of Russian futurists, which was called “Tsen-Trifuga”. The Centrifuge group arose in Moscow in 1914 on the basis of the Lyrika group, which moved away from symbolism, which included S. Bobrov, N. Aseev, B. Pasternak. This group lasted the longest (until 1917), without being influenced by other futuristic
groups. Unlike other futurists, members of the Centrifuge group opposed literary nihilism and cultural nihilism in general. They saw the task of art in transforming the temporary into the eternal. As an artistic program, they put forward the dream of the birth of super art that will be able to transform the world.
2. How was the poet’s personality formed?
Fate generously endowed B. Pasternak with talents: he was a very capable musician, studied music theory and composition from the best professionals. Composer A. Scriabin, who was for young man both an idol and an older friend, predicted a future for him as a musician. Later, when Pasternak studied at the University of Marburg, a recognized center of European philosophical science, he was predicted to have a future as a philosopher. B. L. Pasternak (1890-1960) was born into the family of the famous artist, academician of painting L. Pasternak. Mother was a professor of music classes at the Odessa branch of the Imperial Russian Musical Society. L. Tolstoy, A. Scriabin, S. Rachmaninov visited their house. This atmosphere of art brought up B. Pasternak, who, having graduated from the gymnasium with a gold medal, and the university with the title of Candidate of Philosophy, with the blessing of his father, decided to devote himself to literature.
3. How did B. Pasternak’s literary work begin?
In 1914, the first book of poems, “Twin in the Clouds,” was published, which opened famous poem"February". B. Pasternak himself “often regretted” the release of this “immature book.”
4. Tell us about the collections of poems by B. Pasternak.
In 1917, even before the revolution, Pasternak’s “experimental” collection “Over Barriers” was published. The title is borrowed from his poem “Petersburg,” which is included in this book. Each poem is distinguished by its musical design. In 1922, the book “My Sister is Life” was published, which combines the poetics of futurism with the romantic tradition. After this collection, people started talking about Pasternak as one of the greatest modern poets. Then the book “Themes and Variations” was published, in which reminiscences from Pushkin, Goethe, Griboyedv, and Shakespir are widely used. In 1927, the collection “Two Books” was published, and in 1932, “The Second Birth”, which included translations. During the war, Pasternak actively worked on the collection “On Early Trains” and on a series of translations. In 1956-1959. Pasternak worked on the collection “When it clears up,” which was published after the poet’s death.
5. Name the most significant translations of B. Pasternak.
6. When was B. Pasternak awarded the Nobel Prize?
In 1958. But B. Pasternak was not allowed to receive it, forcing him to refuse. The prize was awarded to the son of B. L. Pasternak already in the 1980s. This prize recognized the novel Doctor Zhivago, published in 1957 abroad (in Italy), as well as achievements in lyric poetry.
8. Tell us about recent months life of B. L. Pasternak.
9. What motives predominate in B. Pasternak’s lyrics?
10. What, in your opinion, distinguishes the poetry of B. Pasternak from the poetry of other contemporary poets?
Associative series of symbolic images, philosophical, musicality of verse, unexpectedness of word usage. The subject matter of his poems is universal and not opportunistic, which is why his poems have stood the test of time.
Boris Leonidovich Pasternak(January 29 [February 10] 1890, Moscow - May 30, 1960, Peredelkino, Moscow region) - Russian writer , one of the largest poets of the 20th century, laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature (1958).
Born in Moscow, in the family of academician of painting L. O. Pasternak. He graduated from high school, then, in 1913, from Moscow University in the philosophical department of the historical and philological faculty. In the summer of 1912, he studied philosophy at the university in Marburg (Germany) and traveled to Italy (Florence and Venice). Being strongly impressed by the music of A. N. Scriabin, he studied composition for six years.
The first publications of Boris Pasternak's poems date back to 1913. IN next year his first collection “Twin in the Clouds” is published.
Pasternak's fame came after the October Revolution, when his book “My Sister is My Life” (1922) was published. In 1923, he wrote the poem “High Disease”, in which he creates the image of Lenin. In the 20s, the poems “905” and “Lieutenant Schmidt” were also written, critically rated as important stage V creative development poet.
During the war years, he created patriotic poems that made up the cycle “Poems and War.” New stage his work dates back to the 50s (the cycle “Poems from the Novel”, “When It Goes Wild”).
Parsnip was part of a small group of poets, the Centrifuge, close to Futurism, but influenced by the Symbolists. The poet was very critical of his early work and subsequently revised a number of poems thoroughly. However, already in these years those features of his talent are manifested, which in to the fullest expressed themselves in the 20-30s: poeticization of the “prose of life”, outwardly dull facts human existence, philosophical reflections on the meaning of love and creativity, life and death.
The origins of Pasternak's poetic style lie in the modernist literature of the early 20th century, in the aesthetics of impressionism. Pasternak's early poems are complex in form and densely saturated with metaphors. But already in them one can feel the enormous freshness of perception, sincerity and depth, the pristine pure colors of nature glow, the voices of rains and snowstorms sound.
Over the years, Pasternak frees himself from the excessive subjectivity of his images and associations. While still remaining philosophically deep and intense, his verse acquires increasing transparency and classical clarity. However, Pasternak's social isolation noticeably fettered the poet's strength. Nevertheless, Pasternak took the place in Russian poetry of a significant and original lyricist, a wonderful singer of Russian nature. Its rhythms, images and metaphors influenced the work of many Soviet poets.
Pasternak is an outstanding master of translation. He translated works of Georgian poets, Shakespeare's tragedies, and Goethe's Faust.
Works and books
- Pasternak B. L. Twin in the clouds. - M.: Lyrics, 1914.
- Pasternak B. L. Childhood Eyelets (1918, published in 1922).
- Pasternak B. L. Three chapters from the story (published in 1922 in the newspaper “Moscow Monday”).
- Pasternak B. L. Second birth. - M.: Sov. writer, 1934. - 95 p. Circulation 10,200 copies. (In dust jacket, artist G. Berenhof.)
- Pasternak B. L. Georgian lyrics. - M.: Sov. writer, 1935
- Pasternak B. L. On early trains, for the first time - in 1943.
- Pasternak B. L. When it goes wild, a cycle of poems, published in its entirety posthumously in “Izbranny” (M., 1961).
- Pasternak B. L. Doctor Zhivago. - M.: Sov. writer, 1989. - 736 p. Circulation 200,000 copies.
- Pasternak B. L. Poems and poems: In 2 volumes / Comp., prepared. text and notes V. S. Baevsky and E. B. Pasternak. - L.: Sov. writer, 1990. Circulation 100,000 copies. (The Poet's Library. Large series. Third edition.)
- Pasternak B. L. Selected works / Comp. and comm. E. V. Pasternak. - M.: RIPOL CLASSIC, 1998. - 864 p. Circulation 10,000 copies. (Immortal Library)
Boris Leonidovich Pasternak, whose biography is presented in this article, is one of those few wordsmiths who have been awarded one of the most coveted awards - the Nobel Prize.
Biography of the poet
Boris Pasternak, whose photo is presented in the article, was born in Moscow in 1890. The poet's family was creative and intelligent. Mother is a pianist, father was a famous artist and academician. His works were highly appreciated, and some were even purchased by the famous philanthropist Tretyakov for his museum. was friends with Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy and was one of his favorite illustrators.
In addition to the first-born Boris, the family subsequently had three more children - the youngest son and two daughters.
Childhood years
Boris Leonidovich Pasternak, whose poems had not yet been written, was in an amazing creative atmosphere from birth. His parents' house was always hospitably open to famous guests. In addition to Leo Tolstoy, composers Scriabin and Rachmaninov, artists Levitan and Ivanov, and many other creative personalities visited here. Of course, meetings with them could not but affect Pasternak. The greatest influence on him was Scriabin, under whose influence 13-year-old Boris seriously studied music for a long time and planned to become a composer.
Boris Pasternak studied excellently (the biography of the poet contains this fact). He graduated from the fifth Moscow gymnasium, where Vladimir Mayakovsky studied two classes lower. At the same time, he studied at the composition department of the Moscow Conservatory. He graduated from high school brilliantly - with a gold medal and highest scores in all subjects.
Difficult choice
Pasternak Boris Leonidovich, whose biography would subsequently be replenished with more than one fact of difficult choice, after graduation was forced to make the first, very painful decision for him - to leave his career as a composer. He himself later explained in his biography that he did this because he did not have absolute pitch. Already then, the character of the future poet contained determination and enormous capacity for work. If he started something, he brought it to complete perfection. Therefore, loving music very much, but realizing that he could not achieve the perfection necessary for himself in this profession, Pasternak, in his words, “torn” it out of himself.
In 1908, he entered Moscow University, first to the Faculty of Law, but a year later he changed his mind and transferred to the philosophy department. As always, Pasternak was a brilliant student and in 1912 continued his studies at the University of Margburg. He was predicted to have a good career as a philosopher in Germany, but he suddenly decides to devote himself not to philosophy, but to poetry.
The beginning of a creative journey
He began to try his hand at poetry late, around 1910. Boris Pasternak's poems of that period, according to the recollections of the poet's colleague in working together in poetry circles, were completely childish in form, but tried to contain enormous content.
A visit to Venice with his family in 1912 and the refusal of his beloved girl had an impact on Boris strong impression. This finds expression in his first poems of that period.
Upon returning to Moscow, he begins to participate in the literary circles “Musaget” and “Lyrics”, speaking with his poems. During these years, he was attracted to such trends in poetry as futurism and symbolism, but later he preferred not to join any literary association, but to be independent.
The years 1913-1914 were eventful for Pasternak. creative life. At first, several of his poems were published, and in 1914 the first collection, “Twin in the Clouds,” was published. But he considers all this to be just a test of the pen, since he is dissatisfied with the quality of his works. In the same year, he met Vladimir Mayakovsky. Pasternak as a poet falls under his influence.
Birth of a poet
The creative process is a completely inexplicable thing. Some create easily, as if having fun, while others carefully hone every phrase, achieving perfection. Boris Pasternak also belonged to the latter. For him, poetry is not only a great gift, but also hard work. Therefore, he considers only the collection “My Sister - Life”, published in 1922, to be the beginning of his literary activity. The poems by Boris Pasternak included in it were written in the summer of 1917.
Fruitful 1920s
The beginning of the 1920s was marked by several important events. In 1921, the poet’s parents emigrated to Germany, and in 1922 Boris Pasternak, whose biography contains a lot interesting facts, marries Evgenia Vladimirovna Lurie. A year later their son Zhenya is born.
The work of Boris Pasternak in these years was fruitful - in 1923 the collection “Themes and Variations” and two famous poems appeared - “Lieutenant Schmidt” and “Nine Hundred and Fifth”. They became a literary event of those years and were highly appreciated by Maxim Gorky.
The beginning of the 1930s was the time of recognition of Pasternak by the authorities. His works are republished annually, and the poet himself gave a speech at the first congress of the Writers' Union in 1934. It's actually called the best poet countries. But the authorities do not forget that the poet had the courage to stand up for the arrested relatives of the poetess Anna Akhmatova, defended Mandelstam and Gumilyov. She doesn't forgive anyone for this. Boris Pasternak did not escape this fate. Brief biography The poet says that by 1936 he was actually eliminated from the official literary life of the country, accusing him of having an incorrect worldview and detachment from life.
Translations of Pasternak
It so happened that Pasternak is no less famous as a translator than as a poet. He is called one of the best masters poetic translation. Who, if not he, a wonderful poet, could better feel the work of another creator than others?
Due to the negative attitude of the authorities in the late 1930s, the poet was left without income. His works are no longer being republished, there is a catastrophic lack of money, and Pasternak turns to translations. The poet had his own concept regarding them. He believed that a translation is as independent as the original. And here he approached the work with all his meticulousness and desire to do everything perfectly.
Boris Leonidovich Pasternak, whose poems and translations were included in the golden fund of Russian and foreign literature, began translating back in 1918. Then he was mainly engaged in the work of German poets. His main work began in 1936. He goes to his dacha in Peredelkino and works hard on translations of Shakespeare, Goethe, Byron, Rilke, Keats, and Varlen. Now his work is valued on equal terms with the original works.
For Pasternak, translations are not only an opportunity to feed his family, but also a unique way to realize himself as a poet in the face of persecution and refusal to publish his works. We owe Boris Pasternak the magnificent translations of Shakespeare, which have long been considered classics.
War and post-war years
The trauma received by the writer in childhood did not allow him to mobilize to the front for years Patriotic War. But he couldn’t stay away either. After completing military courses, he goes to the front as a correspondent. Upon returning home to Peredelkino, he creates a cycle of patriotic poems.
The years after the war are a time of intense work. Pasternak translates a lot, since this remains his only income. Poems in post-war years he writes little - all his time is taken up by translations and work on a new novel.
These years also included another titanic work of the poet - a translation of Goethe's Faust.
“Doctor Zhivago” is the pinnacle of creation and the poet’s favorite work
This book was the most important and beloved work of the poet. For ten whole years Boris Pasternak went to her. Doctor Zhivago is a largely autobiographical novel.
Start of work - 1945. At this time, the prototype of the main female image The novel was written by the writer's wife Zinaida Neuhaus. After the appearance of Pasternak in his life, who became his new muse, work on the manuscript went faster.
This novel is the poet’s main and favorite brainchild; it took a long time to create - 10 years. This is actually the autobiography of the writer himself, true story about events in the country, starting from the beginning of the century and ending with the terrible war. For this honesty, Doctor Zhivago was categorically rejected by the authorities, and Boris Pasternak, whose biography preserves the events of this difficult period, was subjected to real persecution.
It’s hard to imagine how difficult it was to bear the universal reproach, especially from colleagues.
In the Soviet Union, publication of the book was refused due to the writer’s controversial views on October Revolution. The novel was appreciated only abroad. It was published in Italy. In 1957, Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago was released and instantly became a sensation. This work received the most rave reviews in the West.
1958 is an amazing date. For the poet, being awarded the Nobel Prize is both the greatest joy from the high recognition of his talent by the world community, and real grief due to the persecution that has resumed with renewed vigor. They offered to expel him from the country as punishment, to which the poet replied that he could not imagine himself without his homeland. Pasternak succinctly and harshly described all the bitterness of that period in the poem “Nobel Prize,” written in 1959. He had to refuse the award, and for this poem, published abroad, he was almost charged under the article “treason.” It was saved by the fact that the publication took place without Pasternak’s consent.
Boris Pasternak - short poems by the poet
If we talk about early work poet, the influence of symbolism is strongly felt in him. Very complex rhymes, incomprehensible images and comparisons are characteristic of this period. Pasternak's style changed dramatically during the war years. The poems seem to acquire ease and simplicity of reading. They are easy and quick to remember, and it’s nice to just read them in a row. This is especially true for the poet’s short poems, such as “Hop”, “Wind”, “March”, “Hamlet”. Pasternak's genius lies in the fact that even his smallest poems contain enormous philosophical meaning.
Boris Pasternak. Analysis of the poem "July"
The poem refers to late period creativity of the poet. It was written in 1956, when Pasternak was vacationing in the summer at his dacha in Peredelkino. If in early years he wrote elegant poems, then later a social orientation and the poet’s favorite theme appear in them - an understanding of the inseparability of the natural world and man.
"July" - shining example landscape lyrics. The title of the work and its theme are completely the same. Which main idea did Boris Pasternak want to convey to the reader? July is one of the most beautiful summer months, causing the sincere admiration of the author. And he wants to describe its lightness, freshness and charm.
The poem consists of two parts. The first part creates an atmosphere of mystery - who is the guest who entered the house? A brownie, a ghost, a ghost who runs in, frolics and sneaks?
In the second part, the secret of the mysterious guest is revealed - this is a mischievous July, the month of midsummer. The poet humanizes July, using personifications for this: a brownie, an unkempt disheveled man, a visiting tenant.
A special feature of the poem is the author’s use of vivid visual images: July “rips the tablecloth off the table”, “runs in in a whirlwind of a draft.”
Personal life of the poet
Boris Pasternak, whose biography cannot be complete without talking about his family, was married twice. As someone who lives by emotions, he was a passionate person. Not so much as to stoop to banal betrayals, but he could not remain faithful to the one woman he loved.
The poet's first wife was the charming Eugenia Lurie, a young artist. They met in 1921, and the poet considered this meeting symbolic for himself. At this time, Pasternak finished work on the story “Childhood of Eyelets,” the heroine’s name was Evgenia, and it was as if he saw her image in the girl.
Evgenia has become a real museum of the poet. Refined, gentle, delicate and at the same time purposeful and independent, she evoked an extraordinary elation in him. In the first years of marriage, Boris Pasternak was probably happy for the first time. At first, strong love smoothed out all the difficulties, but gradually the hard life of the poor in the 20s began to interfere more and more with family happiness. Evgeniya was not there ideal wife, she also wanted to realize herself as an artist, and Pasternak had to take on many family concerns.
In 1926, a long correspondence began between him and Marina Tsvetaeva, which literally drove the poet’s jealous wife crazy. She can't stand it and goes to Pasternak's parents in Germany. In the end, she decides to give up the desire to realize herself as an artist and devotes her life to caring for her husband. But by this time the poet had already met his second future wife- Zinaida Neuhaus. He is already forty, she is 32 years old, she is married and raising two boys.
Neuhaus turns out to be the complete opposite of Evgenia Lurie. She devoted herself entirely to her family and was very economical. She did not have the sophistication that was inherent in the poet’s first wife. But Pasternak fell in love with this woman at first sight. The fact that she was married and had children did not stop him. Now he saw his life only with her.
In 1932, he divorced Evgenia and married Zinaida. Having separated from his first wife, he helped her and his son all the years until his death and maintained relationships.
Pasternak was also happy with his second wife. Caring and economical, she tried to provide him with comfort and peace and was also a muse for the poet. In his second marriage, a son, Leonid, was born.
Family happiness lasted, as in the first marriage, a little more than 10 years. Pasternak increasingly began to linger at the dacha in Peredelkino and increasingly moved away from his wife. One day, at the editorial office of the New World magazine, he met Olga Ivinskaya, who worked there as an editor. She became the poet's last muse.
They tried to separate several times, because Pasternak did not want to leave his wife, she meant a lot to him, and the poet could not afford to treat her so cruelly.
In 1949, Ivinskaya was arrested and sent to camps for 5 years for her relationship with Boris Pasternak. And he looked after her all these years elderly mother and children, providing money. It's for nothing hard time did not pass - in 1952 the poet was hospitalized with a heart attack.
After returning, Olga became Pasternak’s unofficial secretary - she manages all his affairs, communicates on his behalf with editors, and reprints his works. Until the end of the poet’s life, they never parted.
Recent years
There is no doubt that it was the persecution that unfolded around the poet that greatly undermined his health. The heart attack suffered in 1952 also made itself felt.
In the spring, at the beginning of April 1960, Pasternak fell ill from a serious illness. No one assumed that he had cancer, which had already metastasized to his stomach. At the beginning of May, the poet realizes that the disease is fatal and he will not recover. May 30 Boris Pasternak dies. All this time, his wife Zinaida was at his bedside, who would outlive her husband by 6 years and die from the same illness. The poet and his entire family are buried in the cemetery in Peredelkino.
The work of the remarkable Russian poet, writer and translator Boris Pasternak has forever entered into world literature. His peculiarity as a poet is his picturesque expressive style and amazing imagery of his poems.
