Hello Gentle Reader,
Russian poetry is a lot like Russian ballet or Russian figure skating—it has been refined to its most glittering, dazzling and sparkling elements; that anything less than technical perfection and beautiful composition, is wasted potential and not worth publishing. Russian poetry of the twentieth century possessed some of the greatest poets in the world: from the Soul of the Silver Age: Anna Akhmatova, to the tragic Marina Tsvetaeva. Following in their footsteps were Great Russian and Soviet poets, like the little Russian China doll Bella Akhmadulina, Nobel Laureates Joseph Brodsky and Boris Pasternak. Contemporary Russian poetry is also producing great poetic voices to join the canon, such as Anzhelina Polonskaya and Dmitry Vodennikov. There is something to almost admire about the devotion to Russian poetry. How it’s savored and recited by the masses; as if a poem is neither a secret nor a gift, exchanged between two people, under the moon, skin between sheets and shadows and souls intertwined. Poetry in Russia is a landmark of linguist zeal, but also a hallmark of history and heritage, and as well as seeking survival and resistance in political turbulence, by stating realities in the most hidden manners, but by also offering hope. Yevgeny Yevtushenko was a poet of hope, who voiced this profound concept without cynicism and without sarcasm. It was noted in one of the many obituaries, now celebrating and mourning Yevtushenko, that he had achieved a rarity in today’s world: popularity as a poet. Yet his poetry was a product of his perseverance and his resistance against an ideology which sought to strike down dissidence strip away individuality and thought; in which it could create a culture of compliance, and submission. Yevgeny Yevtushenko, however, revolted—though not with violence as Lenin and Mao did; but with poetry. His poems boomed and blasted around the Soviet Union and its satellite states; he challenged Stalin, and was the voice of the oppressed populace, but the voice of hope of a Russia which would whether this storm as it had in the past. Despite these great inclinations, Yevgeny Yevtushenko was not a dissident poet himself—in fact the Kremlin’s doors were open to him as a individual, and he was capable of leaving the country, to go to Cuba to visit Fidel Castro, and the United States, to toast his friend Robert Kennedy. Despite the acceptance by the government, who allowed his poetry to be published in Soviet newspapers; Yevgeny Yevtushenko was not a propagating poet of communism or Stalin (both his grandfathers were sentenced to the Gulags). Through it all though, Yevgeny Yevtushenko weathered the storm, and would come out on top. Along with: Andrei Voznesensky, Bella Akhmadulina (to whom he was once married), and Robert Rozhdestvensky— Yevtushenko was considered one of the Soviets classic poets, who was capable of filling a stadium to hear his poems recited, like a teenager now going to see a concert. It is once reported that during such an event, Yevtushenko was carried throughout the stadium, like an Olympian of poetry. Yevgeny Yevtushenko’s life was complicated however, he swung between love, hate, and bitterness in one motion; as is reflected in the unfortunate destruction of his friendship to fellow Russian poet Joseph Brodsky (who Yevtushenko once freed from exile; but would lose, when Brodsky was forcefully removed from the Soviet Union.)
Despite the hot and cold nature of Yevgeny Yevtushenko as a human being; his command of poetry and the audience cannot be overlooked. His resilience was hope, not dissidence in its entirety; though he used his prestige and connections to assist numerous Russian writers. It is his final wish to be buried next to his favourite writer, Boris Pasternak.
Russia has certainly lost one of its most profound and convincing voices. He was a writer who continued to recite poems in stadiums and theatres throughout Russia. He was a poet who was instrumental in the thaw of the Soviet Union, and the move forward towards democracy.
Rest in Peace Yevgeny Yevtushenko.
Thank-you For Reading Gentle Reader
Take Care
And As Always
Stay Well Read
M. Mary
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