Marina Tsvetaeva

              Extract From Poems to Czechoslovakia 

              

                                                        GERMANY

O, rosiest virgin
among the green hills—
Germany!
Germany!
Germany!
Shame!

The astral soul
pocketed half the cards!
Those fairy tales—from old times, dimmed,
the day—the tanks arrived.

Before the Czech peasant woman—
you don’t lower your eyes,
as you roll on your tanks
through her rye, her hopes?

Before the huge grief
of this small country,
what is it you feel, German,
Germany’s sons??

O mania! O mummy
of greatness!
You’ll burn,
Germany!
Madness,
madness
you make!

With the embrace of a constrictor
the athlete will end you!
To your health, Moravia!
Slovakia, slovak!

In the crystal underground,
having retreated—prepare the blow:
Bohemia!
Bohemia!
Bohemia!
Hello!

(April 9-10, 1939)

 I first came across the work of Marina Tsvetavena/Tsevtajeva ( 1892- 1941) from reading 'Poetry of the Second World War edited by Desmond Graham'. And her life is an absolutely harrowing read. Born in Moscow into quite a cultured family- her father was a professor and founder of the Museum of Fine Art, opened by Tsar Nicholas II in 1912. Her mother, a Polish-German pianist who died from tuberculosis when Marina was fourteen. Marina was educated at different international schools, including The Sorbonne and had her first collection of poems 'Evening Album' published when she was eighteen. In 1912 Marina married Sergie/Sergej Efron,a devotee of poetry, though not clear if he was a published a poet himself. 

And the turbulence of the 20th century descended. I can't find a record of Efron's war service in World War One but after the 1917 Revolution, Efron was fighting in the White Army during the Russian Civil War. The couple were separated and Marina began a short affair with the poet Odip Mandelstan, and then later had a relationship with Sofia Parnock, a fellow poet. Marina's sympathies were with the Whites and she wrote a poem titled  'The Demense of Swans',in support of the anti-revolutionary cause, not published until 1957.

Famine struck Moscow  in 1919 where the family were living, and Marina placed her two daughters in a state run children's home. Her younger daughter, Irina died there. Sergei , Marina and their surviving daughter Alja (Ariadna) moved to Berlin in 1922, then Prague, and finally to Paris in 1925. Sergei Efron began working as a Soviet spy, which of course meant that they were shunned by the White Russian/ Tsarist emmigrés. It is not completely clear why Sergei changed sides.Marina corresponded with famous poets and had some work published in exile, trying to write plays and literary criticism. 

In 1938 and 1939 Marina wrote a cycle of poems about the post Munich Treaty dismantling of the land of  Czechoslovakia ,titled 'Poems To Czechoslovakia'.  The German speaking 'Sudetenland' had already been ceded to The Third Reich in 1938 via international agreement.  The Third Reich had seized the largely Czech speaking provinces of Bohemia and Moravia on  15th March 1939 and turned them into a Protecterate. Slovakia became independent and allied to the Germans.  The poems in this cycle connect to dates during the demise of the country. As in the example cited above, they are concise, direct, and sharp, and no word is wasted. 

Also in June 1939 Marina,Sergei  Erfon and their son Georgij, known as Mur , relocated to the Soviet Union.Sources appear to conflict, I have read that Sergei Erfon was facing attempted murder charges in France, thought it is equally plausible that the Soviet authorities-still controlling him- ordered Sergei back. Alja had already returned but was soon banished to Siberia, then later to a labour camp there.  In October 1939 Sergei Efron was arrested for spying and attempting to undermine the Soviet Military. In June 1941 he was condemned to death, and executed at Lubjanka Prison in October 1941. However there are claims that Sergei Erfon  was amongst some 157 intellectuals who were executed on 11th September 1941 as part of the Soviet State's Medvedev Forest massacre as the Germans were approaching the region. 

In retrospect it seemed unlikely that Sergei Erfon would have ever been accepted by the Stalinist regime and his usefulness to them had simply expired. It is possible that the Secret Service cajoled Sergei and Alja to incriminate each other. KUDROVA, Another source suggests that Alja's boyfriend at the time turned out to be a police agent and informed on her and Sergei. CARCANET

Marina and Mur left Moscow in July 1941, moving to Yelabuga,Tatarstan. They were isolated from any contemporary literary life, and desperately short of money.  Marina hanged herself on 31st August 1941. 

Mur returned to Moscow, was called up for military service in 1943, and killed in action fighting for the Soviet regime in the Summer of 1944, most likely in what is now Belaraus. 

In the wake of Stalin's death, the banning order against Alja was lifted in 1955 and she was released.Sergei Erfon was posthumously rehabilitated. Alja survived until 1975 and dedicated her life to reviving her mother's work.  In 1965 an anthology of Marina's work was published in the Soviet Union.Leading post-war Soviet poet Yvengy Yevtushenko wrote a poem about her death and cited Marina as an influence.  In 1973, Shostakovich set six of Marina's poems to music, whilst on holiday in Estonia, titled 'Six Poems of Marina Tsvetaeva Opus 143A'. They were performed by the English Touring Opera in January 2024.

Marina Tsvetaeva has now been recognised as a leading 20th century Russian language poet, along with Boris Pasternak, Anna Akhmatova, Osip Mandelstam and Joseph Brodsky. There is a memorial Museum dedicated to her work 

Anna Akhmatova wrote a poem in 1940 'Late Answer'  dedicated to Marina Tsvetaeva, which seems a fitting tribute: 

" I returned home today,
look on in wonder,my native field,
at what happened to me after this.
The deep has swallowed up my loved ones,
the father's house is pillaged,
You and I today, Marina,
are walking through the midnight capital,
and millions like us are following behind us,
There is no more silent procession,
and round about the funeral bells ring, 
and wild Moscow wails as the the blizzard covers our tracks." 

(from 'Selected Poems' by Anna Akhmatova, translated by Richard McKane, Bloodaxe Books, 1969)

Picture 

Photo courtesy of 'Wikipedia'. Hitler's visit to Prague Castle 15th/16th March 1939 

Sources 

CARCANET Marina Tsvetaeva biog webpage with list of  her poetry collections translated into English. 

Poetry Foundation biography  Web page on Marina Tsvetaeva

Full Text   'Poems to Czechoslovakia'  translated by Margaret Little.

Death of a Poet The Last Days of Marina Tsvetaeva' Irma KUDROVA ( book publicity page) 

South Magazine   Issue 31, April 2005 : Article 'Marina Tsvetaeva - Poet of Extreme' by Belinda Cooke

Coppice -Gate Webpage about  Shostakvoich's interpretation of Marina Tsvetaeva's poems 

The Memorial House Museum dedicated to Marina Tsvetaeva in Bolshevo, Russia

Related Post 

Anna Akhmatova  Post from this blog about Anna Akhmatova from 2018 

Other blogs :

Bleak Chesney Wold   19th century history & literature blog

A Burnt Ship                17th century history warfare & literature blog 

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Anna Akhmatova's Poetry / Al Stewart track 'Roads To Moscow'

    
    
                  Anna Akhmatova ( Anna Akhmatova Gorenko)         

                        1922 portrait of Anna Akhmatova by Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin ( courtesy of Wikipedia) 
                                          

                                     "At the burial of an epoch
                                      no psalm is heard at the tomb
                                      soon nettles and thistles                                       
                                      will decorate the spot 
                                     The only busy hands are those 
                                      of the grave-diggers .Faster! Faster!
                                      and it's quiet, Lord, so quiet
                                      you can hear time passing."
                                      Anna Akhtmatova poem,  'In 1940' 
                                    
                                       
                
Many basic details of concerning the life of Anna Akhmatova are not agreed upon. Some sources state that Anna Akhmatova was born in St. Petersburg in 1888, others offer Boshoy Fontain, near Odessa, Ukraine in 1889.  Associated with  the Acemist poetry movement centred round St .Petersburg, Anna Akmatova married fellow poet Nikolay Gumilyov in 1910- though divorced in 1918. Their son, Lev Gumilyov was born in 1912, and collections of Anna's work appeared in 1912 and 1914.  

Though met with official disapproval during the Bolshevik regime, further collections of Anna Akhmatova's work appeared in 1917, and two in 1921. However, Nikolay Gumilyov was executed in 1921 for alleged taking part in an anti-Bolshevik conspiracy.  Anna Akhmatov found that her poetry was no longer permitted to be published, and she survived as a translator and literary critic ,becoming a specialist on the work of Pushkin. Lev Gumilyov served three sentences under Stalin's regime. Anna Akhmatov's close friend, the fellow poet Osip Mandelshtam, was hauled away by police in front of her , and imprisoned.  Two future husbands would also be jailed- in fact her third husband, the art historian Nikolai Punin died in a camp in 1934,

When World War 2 began, Russia had already  signed the Nazi-Soviet pact with Germany. Anna Akhmatov's poetry was allowed to be published again in 1940, but a full collection would not appear until 1961- one source I consulted, stated 1965. One of her 1940 poems - ' To The Londoners,' was a written dedication to those who were facing the London Blitz. 

Following the launching of Operation Barbarossa ,Stalin permitted Anna Akhmatov to broadcast live to the women of Leningrad as the blockade of the city began in September 1941, but she departed the city in the Spring of 1942 for Tashkent, Uzbekistan. One account has Anna flying out of the city , clutching the manuscript  for   Shostakovich's 7th Symphony - The Leningrad Symphony'. Whilst absent from Leningrad, Anna Akhmatov read poetry to the wounded troops. In June 1944 Anna Akhmatov returned to the city. During this time her poetry began to be published again, and in 1945 she performed her work to an audience of some 3,000 people at an event in Moscow, and received a standing ovation.  

However in 1946, the Soviet authorities clamped down on her work. An extensive collection of Anna Akhmatov's poetry being prepared for publication was banned. A high standing member of the Politburo, Anrei Zhadanov, notoriously denounced her work for being "utterly individualistic" and referred to Anna Akhmatov as " a nun and a whore, who combines harlotry with prayer."


Following her son Lev Gumilyov 's third arrest and imprisonment in 1949, Anna destroyed a substantial amount of her own work including a play that she had written during her stay at Tashent. 

However, following 'The Thaw' after Stalin's death, Anna Akhmatov was allowed to have her work published again with 22 of her poems appearing in an official anthology of Soviet poems in 1958.  In 1959 her membership to the Soviet Union of Writers was restored, and Anna was permitted to embark on a foreign travel . Following more of her work being published, Anna Akhmatova was permitted to travel abroad again in 1965.
On 5th March 1966 Anna Akhmatov died after a short illness. 

Anna Akhmatova seemed to have lost so many people close to her during the Revolution, the Purges, World War 2 that she reached a state evoked in her poem 'The Return' from 1944  

"The souls of my dears have all flown to the stars
Thank God there's no one left for me to lose"


A cycle of 16 short poems 'The Winds of War  appeared in 'Second World War Poems-chosen by Hugh Haughton ' ( Faber & Faber, 2004). Here is number three in the series.



FIRST LONG-RANGE FIRING ON LENINGRAD

And people's colourful daily round
Suddenly changed drastically
But this was not a city sound,
Not one heard in the villages.
It resembled a distant peal of thunder
As closely as one brother resembles another,
But in thunder there's the moisture,
Of cool cloud towers
And the yearning of the meadows-
For the news of joyous showers,
But this was like scorching heat, dry,
And we didn't want to believe
The rumour we heard-because of
How it grew and multiplied,
Because of how indifferently
It brought death to my child. 

September 1941

Yet there were notes of victory within the poetry cycle. 

 15 JANUARY  27, 1944

And on starless January night,
Amazed at its fantastic fate,
Returned from the bottomless depths of death,
Leningrad salutes itself


16 LIBERATION 

A clean wind rocks the firs'
Clean snow covers the ground.
No longer hearing the tread of the enemy,
It rests, my land 

February 1945 



Links

10 Anna Akhmatova Poems to Read when Life, Love, and Politics Are Hard


Youtube

The Muse of Keening  Short film about the life of work  including as interview with step-daughter.

Poem-'Requiem'       Anna Akhmatova's most famous poem read out with some minimal electronic backing. Superb.

Contemporary  St Petersburg website about Anna Akhmatova (English language)

 St. Petersburg.com entry for Anna Akhmatova Museum


Recommended Books

'Anna Akhmatova Poems' Selected and Translated by Lyn Coffin -Introduction by Joseph Brodsky'
 published by 'Norton & Company' London/New York 1983

'Anna Akhmatova Selected Poems-Selected, Translated and Introduced by Stanley Kuntiz with Max Hayward'
published by Collins Harvill, London 1989


Al Stewart song 'Roads To Moscow'  



Folk rock singer-songwriter Al Stewart has excelled in writing countless songs with a historical theme.  My favourite is 'Road To Moscow'  from the 1973 album 'Past, Present and Future'. Unfortunately not in a position to  reproduce the lyrics so can only quote from them

'Roads to Moscow' tells the story of a Red Army soldier serving at the time of Operation Barbarossa. The first verses describe the Soviets retreating deep into Russia, then in turn drive the Germans back. The soldier begins to dream of his return home-but becomes a prisoner of war, but escapes after a day. He successfully  rejoins the Red Army. But only to be moved from the ranks and ordered to a  Soviet labour camp for allowing himself to be taken prisoner. The song ends with him gazing through the wire, realising that Winter was approaching.

"It's cold and damp in the transit camp
 The air is still and solemn
The pale sun of October whispers
The snow will soon be coming
And I wonder when I will be home again
And the morning answers never. "

The debate whether song lyrics about war can be counted as 'war poetry' seems hard to resolve. But if it is accepted that lyrics can be considered as war poetry, then 'Roads to Moscow' is a strong contender.

Links

Al Stewart explanation  of 'Roads to Moscow'

'Roads to Moscow' (song)   from 'Youtube'


Finally Please remember that there is a companion blog to this one called A Burnt Ship  about Stuart era War Poetry and literature. Also features contemporary fiction about the 17th century . 

New blog launched by Michael Bully in February 2023  Bleak Chesney Wold relating to Charles Dickens/ 'dark' Victoriana 

UPDATE 2025 

World War 2 Poetry blog supports the Second World War Experience Centre  Please consider looking at their website and the SWWEC Youtube Channel 

World War 2 Poetry blog welcomes the new War Poetry Review website run by the War Poets Association