Full Description
Osip Mandelstam (1891-1938) is widely regarded as one of the twentieth century's most influential poets. This collection, compiled, translated, and edited by poet and scholar Ian Probstein, provides Anglophone audiences with a powerful selection of Mandelstam's most beloved and haunting poems. Both scholars and general readers will gain a deeper understanding of his poetics, as Probstein situates each poem in its historical and literary context. The English translations presented here are so deeply immersed in the Russian sources and language through the ear of a Russian-born Probstein who has spent most of his adult life in the US, that they provide reader's with a Mandelstam unseen any translations that precede it.
Contents
AcknowledgementsA Note on the TextOsip Mandelstam: "Centuries encircle me with fire"On Translating Mandelstam(1891-1938)Osip Mandelstam (1891-1938)" " ( 1908-1915)From Stone (poems of 1908-1915)- . . .I am given a body-what should I . . .. . .I hate the light . . .- . . .The fall is a constant companion of fear . . .- Hagia Sophia. . . . . .. . . Not a single blade . . .The Wand. . .The fire destroys . . ."Tristia" ( 1916-1922)From Tristia (poems of 1916-1922)A Decembrist. . .When a feverish forum of Moscow . . ., , . . .Hail, brothers, let us praise our freedom's twilight . . .TristiaTristia. . .On steep stony ridges of Pieria . . ., . . .Sisters, heaviness and tenderness, your traits are akin . . .. . .Go back to the incestuous womb . . ., . . .The meaning of fruitless and gloomy . . ., . . .Because I could not hold your hands in mine . . ." " (1928 ., 1921-1925 .)From Poems (1928, poems of 1921-1925). . .With the pink foam of fatigue around soft lips . . .The AgeThe Horseshoe FinderThe Slate Ode. . .Clearer than pigeon's talk to me is stone's tongue . . .. . .And the Sky is Pregnant with the Future . . .1 1924January 1, 1924, , . . .No, I've never been anyone's contemporary . . .. . .I'll rush along a gypsy camp of a dark street . . .c 1930-1934 .From New Poems of 1930-19341 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12Armenia1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12. . .On the police laid paper the night. . .. . .Don't tell it anyone-forget . . .. . .A prickly speech of the Ararat Valley . . .. . .How dear to me are those people . . .- . . .A wild cat-the Armenian speech . . .. . .I will tell you this, my lady . . .. . .For the thunderous courage of ages to come . . ., . . .No, I won't be able to hide from a great mess . . .Untruth. . . .Midnight in Moscow. A Buddhist summer is lavish . . .1 | 2 | 3 | 4Excerpts from Destroyed Poems1 | 2 | 3 | 4. . .I am far from being as old as patriarch . . .. . .Today we can take decals . . .LamarckImpressionismBatiushkovo . . .Give Tiutchev a dragonfly . . .Ariosto, . . .Do not tempt foreign tongues-attempt forgetting them, alas . . .. . .An apartment is quiet as paper . . ., . . .Let's start preparing for the scaffold . . ., . . .We live without feeling our country's pulse . . .1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11Octaves1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11To the Memory of Andrei Bely10 19341 | 2 | 3The Morning of January 10, 19341 | 2 | 310 1934 [ 2]January 10, 1934 [version 2]( 1935-1937)From the Voronezh Notebooks (poems of 1935-1937)From the First Notebook, , . . .Let go, Voronezh, raven-town . . ., . . .I have to live though I died twice . . ., . . .Having deprived me of seas, flight, and space . . .. . . .The day was five-headed: five unbreakable days . . .o . . .We are still sentenced to life . . .. . .Solid gold bars of the Roman nights . . .. . .They run like a gypsy throng . . .. . .I'll fulfill a dim rite . . .From the Second Notebook, - . . .Not I, not you-but they . . ., . . .Smile, angry lamb from Rafael's canvas, don't rage . . .. . .World's golden yeast, our dear . . ., . . .You haven't died yet. You are not alone . . .. . .What should we do with murdered plains . . .. . .Armed with the vision of narrow wasps . . .From the Third NotebookVerses on the Unknown Soldier- . . .Through the ether of ten-digit zeroes . . .. . .Should the skull develop its brow . . .. . .Is the packaging of charm stored . . ., . . .I beg like compassion and grace . . ., . . .I will say it in draft and in whisper . . ., . . .It might be the point of insanity . . .: . . .A living man's unique: do not compare . . ., . . .To help a friend of rain and wind . . .. . .A blue island, green Crete is extolled . . .. . .A guilty debtor of a long-time thirst . . ., . . .Oh, how I madly crave . . ., ! . .My nereids, oh, my nereids! . . .. . .Greek flute's theta and iota . . .. . .I'm under fire of a bird cherry tree and a pear tree . . .[ H< > . ]1 | 2[Poems for N . Shtempel]1 | 2AbbreviationsBibliographyPublications of Works by Osip E. MandelstamTranslations into EnglishTranslations of Osip Mandelstam's Poems into Other LanguagesCriticism
