Russian Poets

ForewordTHE MUSEBORIS PASTERNAK A Definition of Poetry ALEXANDER PUSHKIN Echo AFANASY FET To the Muse BORIS PASTERNAK Poetry VLADISLAV KHODASEVICH Stanzas ALEXANDER PUSHKIN The Poet BORIS PASTERNAK ‘Thus they begin’ MARINA TSVETAYEVA ‘Poems grow’ SERGEI ESENIN ‘I am the last village-poet’ ALEXANDER PUSHKIN Exegi MonumentumANNA AKHMATOVA The Muse €BORIS PASTERNAK For Anna Akhmatova ALEXANDER BLOK To Anna Akhmatova ANNA AKHMATOVA For Alexander Blok OSIP MANDELSTAM On Akhmatova VELIMIR KHLEBNIKOV‘The Dostoyology of racing clouds!’ MIKHAIL LERMONTOVIn Memory of A. I. O[doevsk]y ALEXANDER PUSHKIN To a PoetNIKOLAI NEKRASOV From Princess Volkhonskaya JOSEPH BRODSKY To UraniaFYODOR TYUTCHEV Silentium! OSIP MANDELSTAM Silentium NIKOLAI GUMILEV I and You NIKOLAI NEKRASOV ‘Happy that easy-tempered bard I call’ ALEXANDER PUSHKIN ‘Eyes open wide, the poet weaves’ FYODOR TYUTCHEV ‘Nay, in a poet put no trust’ MARINA TSVETAYEVA From The Poet ALEXANDER BLOK To the Muse MARINA TSVETAYEVA ‘For my poems’ MIKHAIL LERMONTOV The PoetE. A. BARATYNSKY The Muse KONSTANTIN BATYUSHKOV To My FriendsOSIP MANDELSTAM ‘Air sucked dry, bread turning to mould’ NATIVE LANDMIKHAIL LERMONTOV Native Land MIKHAIL LERMONTOV A Prophecy ALEXANDER PUSHKIN The Prophet JOSEPH BRODSKY From A Part of Speech PETER VYAZEMSKY The Russian God ALEXANDER BLOK Russia ALEXEY TOLSTOY The ConvictsALEXEY TOLSTOY ‘Land of mine, where I was bred’ ALEXANDER PUSHKIN Message to Siberia FYODOR TYUTCHEV The Beggar VELIMIR KHLEBNIKOV Russia and Me MARINA TSVETAYEVA ‘Longing for the motherland’ ALEXANDER BLOK The Kite ANDREI VOSNESENSKY Mother FYODOR TYUTCHEV ‘These poor hamlets, humbly faring’ ANDREI BELY RussiaMARINA TSVETAYEVA ‘As you fought for your fatherland’ MIKHAIL LERMONTOV ‘Farewell to Russia’s unwashed features’ BORIS PASTERNAK ‘We are few’ VELIMIR KHLEBNIKOV ‘Moscow’s a crazed old skull’ ANNA AKHMATOVA From Northern Elegies FYODOR TYUTCHEV Russia OSIP MANDELSTAM Petersburg StanzasNIKOLAI NEKRASOV ‘The capitals are rocked with thunder’ALEXANDER BLOK From Retribution Book 2, I & IV VELIMIR KHLEBNIKOV The Moscow of the FutureMARINA TSVETAYEVA ‘Above the church tower there are clouds of blue’ BLACK EARTHOSIP MANDELSTAM Black EarthANNA AKHMATOVA Native Soil MARINA TSVETAYEVA ‘Some forebear of mine was a violinist’ BORIS PASTERNAK Spring IVAN BUNIN Russian SpringAFANASY FET ‘Skies again are deep and bare’ VLADIMIR MAYAKOVSKY The Problem of SpringFYODOR TYUTCHEV Spring Waters FYODOR TYUTCHEV Spring Storm FYODOR TYUTCHEV First Leaf ANNA AKHMATOVA ‘The lime-trees by the open door’ VELIMIR KHLEBNIKOV ‘Alive with glad tidings’ ALEXANDER PUSHKIN ‘Day’s rain is done’ ANNA AKHMATOVA Garden MARINA TSVETAYEVA Garden ALEXANDER BLOK Illusion ALEXANDER BLOK Autumn DayINNOKENTI ANNENSKY Poppies ALEXANDER PUSHKIN Autumn ANNA AKHMATOVA Bezhetsk ALEXANDER PUSHKIN Winter MorningALEXANDER PUSHKIN Fountain at Tsarskoye Selo OSIP MANDELSTAM ‘The pear and the cherry blossom’MARINA TSVETAYEVA ElderAFANASY FET ‘I have come to you to greet you’ VLADIMIR MAYAKOVSKY Night FYODOR TYUTCHEV At the Imperial Village ANNA AKHMATOVA Statue in Tsarskoye Selo TRA¨ UMEREIBORIS PASTERNAK Tra¨umerei AFANASY FET ‘Expect to-morrow to be fair’ AFANASY FET NeverALEXEY TOLSTOY At the Ball MIKHAIL LERMONTOV The Dream €VELIMIR KHLEBNIKOV The Opium Smoker MARINA TSVETAYEVA The Window OSIP MANDELSTAM Seashell AFANASY FET Signs OSIP MANDELSTAM ‘Sleeplessness’ MARINA TSVETAYEVA From Insomnia ALEXANDER BLOK The Stranger VELIMIR KHLEBNIKOV Beast ò Number FYODOR TYUTCHEV Wave and Thought AFANASY FET ‘Up in the hay one evening, darkling’ FYODOR TYUTCHEV Italian Villa ALEXANDER PUSHKIN To the Fountain of the Palace of Bakhchisarai FYODOR TYUTCHEV The Fountain BORIS PASTERNAK In the WoodMIKHAIL LERMONTOV The Sail FYODOR TYUTCHEV Sea Dream ALEXANDER PUSHKIN To Vyazemsky KONSTANTIN BALMONT Drowned ALEXANDER PUSHKIN To the Sea FYODOR TYUTCHEV You My Sea Wave ALEXANDER BLOK The Sailor VELIMIR KHLEBNIKOV ‘The shining shower dripping from the oar’ALEXANDER PUSHKIN Arion JOSEPH BRODSKY North Baltic FYODOR TYUTCHEV Sea and Rock FYODOR TYUTCHEV On a Still Night NIKOLAI GUMILEV The Captains AFANASY FET ‘All, all that once was mine is mine forever’ MIKHAIL LERMONTOV Hope ON LOVEJOSEPH BRODSKY On Love ALEXEY TOLSTOY ‘My little almond tree’ VELIMIR KHLEBNIKOV The Song of One Come to Confusion MIKHAIL LERMONTOV The CragANNA AKHMATOVA ‘You’re like a strange and very strict diet’ANNA AKHMATOVA The White Bird BORIS PASTERNAK What We Had FYODOR SOLOGUB ‘The stifling day was harsh and hot’ VELIMIR KHLEBNIKOV A Foppish Proposal MARINA TSVETAYEVA ‘I’ve dissolved for you, in that glass over there’ ANDREI VOZNESENSKY Her Shoes AFANASY FET ‘When she her crimson lips uncloses’ ANDREI VOSNESENSKY Dead Still AFANASY FET ‘Whispering’ ALEXANDER PUSHKIN To Olga MassonALEXANDER PUSHKIN The Beauty ALEXANDER BLOK ‘She came in from the frost’ ALEXEI KOLTSOV The Nightingale ANNA AKHMATOVA A Ride ALEXANDER PUSHKIN K*** FYODOR TYUTCHEV Last Love ALEXANDER BLOK Snow Wine OSIP MANDELSTAM Birth of the Smile AFANASY FET Snake ANNA AKHMATOVA ‘I share my room’ MARINA TSVETAYEVA House WHAT IS THE USE OF TIME?VLADISLAV KHODASEVICH ‘What is the use of time and rhyme?’ AFANASY FET SwallowsALEXANDER PUSHKIN To –– ALEXEY TOLSTOY ‘Do you remember, Mary’ ALEXANDER BLOK Do You Remember ALEXANDER PUSHKIN ‘As soon as roses fade’ ANDREI BELY Euthanasia VASILY ZHUKOVSKY Song MIKHAIL LERMONTOV Testament PETER VYAZEMSKY ‘I have outlived most things and people round me’ OSIP MANDELSTAM Lost in the Sky FYODOR TYUTCHEV On His Brother’s Death ALEXEY TOLSTOY ‘Outside it is blowing and raining’FYODOR TYUTCHEV The Shadow FYODOR TYUTCHEV Riverscape SERGEI ESENIN Last Lines VELIMIR KHLEBNIKOV ‘Nations, years and every creature’YAKOV POLONSKY The Swan FYODOR TYUTCHEV The Past ALEXANDER PUSHKIN ‘Do not sing to me again’ ANDREI VOSNESENSKY Ballad of the Full Stop NIKOLAI ZABOLOTSKY Goodbye to Friends AFANASY FET By the Fireside MARINA TSVETAYEVA ‘Make merry, my soul, drink and eat!’ INNOKENTI ANNENSKY Black Spring VALERY BRYUSOV Orpheus and Eurydice JOSEPH BRODSKY In MemoriamALEXANDER PUSHKIN May 26, 1828List of PoetsAcknowledgments