This volume gathers together some of the most powerful poems from the greatest Russian poets of the 19th and 20th centuries. Arranged by theme and presented in the best available translations, this collection offers an ideal introduction to the mastery of Russian poetry.
Foreword
THE MUSE
BORIS 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 Monumentum
ANNA 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 LERMONTOV
In Memory of A. I. O[doevsk]y
ALEXANDER PUSHKIN To a Poet
NIKOLAI NEKRASOV From Princess Volkhonskaya
JOSEPH BRODSKY To Urania
FYODOR 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 Poet
E. A. BARATYNSKY The Muse
KONSTANTIN BATYUSHKOV To My Friends
OSIP MANDELSTAM ‘Air sucked dry, bread turning to mould
NATIVE LAND
MIKHAIL 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 Convicts
ALEXEY 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 Russia
MARINA TSVETAYEVA ‘As you fought for your fatherland
MIKHAIL LERMONTOV ‘Farewell to Russias unwashed features
BORIS PASTERNAK ‘We are few
VELIMIR KHLEBNIKOV ‘Moscows a crazed old skull
ANNA AKHMATOVA From Northern Elegies
FYODOR TYUTCHEV Russia
OSIP MANDELSTAM Petersburg Stanzas
NIKOLAI NEKRASOV ‘The capitals are rocked with thunder
ALEXANDER BLOK From Retribution Book 2, I & IV
VELIMIR KHLEBNIKOV The Moscow of the Future
MARINA TSVETAYEVA ‘Above the church tower there are clouds of blue
BLACK EARTH
OSIP MANDELSTAM Black Earth
ANNA AKHMATOVA Native Soil
MARINA TSVETAYEVA ‘Some forebear of mine was a violinist
BORIS PASTERNAK Spring
IVAN BUNIN Russian Spring
AFANASY FET ‘Skies again are deep and bare
VLADIMIR MAYAKOVSKY The Problem of Spring
FYODOR 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 ‘Days rain is done
ANNA AKHMATOVA Garden
MARINA TSVETAYEVA Garden
ALEXANDER BLOK Illusion
ALEXANDER BLOK Autumn Day
INNOKENTI ANNENSKY Poppies
ALEXANDER PUSHKIN Autumn
ANNA AKHMATOVA Bezhetsk
ALEXANDER PUSHKIN Winter Morning
ALEXANDER PUSHKIN Fountain at Tsarskoye Selo
OSIP MANDELSTAM ‘The pear and the cherry blossom
MARINA TSVETAYEVA Elder
AFANASY 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¨ UMEREI
BORIS PASTERNAK Tra¨umerei
AFANASY FET ‘Expect to-morrow to be fair
AFANASY FET Never
ALEXEY 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 Wood
MIKHAIL 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 LOVE
JOSEPH BRODSKY On Love
ALEXEY TOLSTOY ‘My little almond tree
VELIMIR KHLEBNIKOV The Song of One Come to Confusion
MIKHAIL LERMONTOV The Crag
ANNA AKHMATOVA ‘Youre 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 ‘Ive 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 Masson
ALEXANDER 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 Swallows
ALEXANDER 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 Brothers 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 Memoriam
ALEXANDER PUSHKIN May 26, 1828
List of Poets
Acknowledgments