The October Revolution in Russia greatly changed the course of history, and at the same time, in the cultural field, Russian modernists became heresies in the western and revolutionary sense. Russia has always had two capitals: Moscow and Petersburg. The victory of the October Revolution requires every Russian poet to make a spiritual choice: choose Moscow or Petersburg. Those who choose Moscow naturally become famous, while those who choose Petersburg (those who don't choose to live in Petersburg) become "the embodiment of suffering" (in Akhmatova), which makes the works of later poets gain great moral appeal, which comes not only from their belief in survival, but also from their traditional lines, stanzas, rhythms and rhetoric. Broschi commented on Akhmatova that she was not afraid to use traditional forms and write other people's stories. The rigor of form has become a belief of Manjiestam. In a sense, Akhmatova, Manjiestam, Zvetayeva, Pasternak and brodsky, who later lived in exile in the United States, are all classicists. Akhmatova's poems mixed orthodox prayer with lust, abstinence, crime and redemption, and turned from writing women's inner world to exploring human destiny and safeguarding dignity and creativity. Her Requiem and Songs Without Heroes are commensurate with the great changes in history and the years of personal suffering.
-Nishikawa's "A Thousand-Year Bird's Eye View of World Poetry"
This is my land, but not my country; This is my hometown, not my society.
A long list from Pasternak, Ye Saining, Mayakovski or Akhmatova, like a string of beads, died for a dignified life.
A betrayal calls the people, and a fear also calls the people. Under the powerful rubber stamp, personal life and death are obviously as light as a feather. But the essence of history is loyalty, not deception. Beyond a bloody road, centuries later, there will always be immortal words on the epitaphs of victims or political prisoners who have been shot. These absurd words will save people from suffering, fill up the swamp of paradox, end the hunger on the roadside and collapse magnificent buildings. Under the barbed wire fences in Berlin and Moscow, there will always be people who deliberately remain silent. They abandoned all faith, submission, death and even betrayal. This is a silent cry, which reminds me of the following sentence:
Don't block my sunshine.
I don't just pray for myself,
But for all the people standing with me,
No matter the cold winter or the heat wave in July.
I jumped under the blind red wall.
I love my Russia and I love my blood. I love the people in this land more.
Let's go to St. Petersburg and find those who suffer.
I have requiem translated by Zhao Ming and Li Ran. I know the former is a famous translator, but I don't know the latter (mainly because of my ignorance). I don't know Russian, so it's a pity that I can't analyze this group of poems according to the original text. I am afraid of the embarrassment of "I don't know the true face of Lushan Mountain" when I fight the tiger across the mountain. However, I put it in Requiem, and this worry seems a bit worrying.
The essence of poetry (provided that there must be essence, many so-called poems, or disgusting sentences dressed as poems as much as possible, it is good to have skin) is perceived by nerve endings. The key lies in whether the readers of poetry have a juicy heart, and the water flowing out is the long river of human origin, reproduction and endless life.
The river will eventually flow to the sea. Along the way, the scorching sun, turtle soil, virgin forest, birds and flowers, people and everything in the world have its protection. However, whether it is the Nile, the Yellow River, the Mississippi River or neva river, it carries civilization and wildness, tears and laughter without exception. On the road of this big river, the road of exile, migration and escape has become glittering because of the people who have been exiled, migrated and fled. The substance called spirit has recast the halls of air, dust, water, flesh and blood and pilgrimage.
But spirit is a kind of metal similar to a cannonball, and its launch is directional, principled and tragic. It's not that a noble soul can't understand the beauty in this tragedy, let alone the heavy weight of this beauty. Requiem was completed in 1935- 1940, but it was not published in the former Soviet Union until 1987.3. Its content is extensive and profound, with perfect artistry and profound ideological and critical. This is the reason why it is half a century late, but it is also the reason why it is still lush and radiant after being unfairly shelved for half a century. The poet said in his autobiography in his later years: "When I was writing a poem, my whole body and mind were immersed in the melody that resounded through the touching history of our country."