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Poems
A collection of 15 poems published, soon after Pasternak won the Nobel Prize, by English literary publisher and book seller, Peter Russell, with a Foreword by Hugh Macdiarmid.
316 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1958
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159 people want to read
About the author
Boris Pasternak
596 books1,598 followersBoris Leonidovich Pasternak was born in Moscow to talented artists: his father a painter and illustrator of Tolstoy's works, his mother a well-known concert pianist. Though his parents were both Jewish, they became Christianized, first as Russian Orthodox and later as Tolstoyan Christians. Pasternak's education began in a German Gymnasium in Moscow and was continued at the University of Moscow. Under the influence of the composer Scriabin, Pasternak took up the study of musical composition for six years from 1904 to 1910. By 1912 he had renounced music as his calling in life and went to the University of Marburg, Germany, to study philosophy. After four months there and a trip to Italy, he returned to Russia and decided to dedicate himself to literature.
Pasternak's first books of verse went unnoticed. With My Sister Life, 1922, and Themes and Variations, 1923, the latter marked by an extreme, though sober style, Pasternak first gained a place as a leading poet among his Russian contemporaries. In 1924 he published Sublime Malady, which portrayed the 1905 revolt as he saw it, and The Childhood of Luvers, a lyrical and psychological depiction of a young girl on the threshold of womanhood. A collection of four short stories was published the following year under the title Aerial Ways. In 1927 Pasternak again returned to the revolution of 1905 as a subject for two long works: "Lieutenant Schmidt", a poem expressing threnodic sorrow for the fate of the Lieutenant, the leader of the mutiny at Sevastopol, and "The Year 1905", a powerful but diffuse poem which concentrates on the events related to the revolution of 1905. Pasternak's reticent autobiography, Safe Conduct, appeared in 1931, and was followed the next year by a collection of lyrics, Second Birth, 1932. In 1935 he published translations of some Georgian poets and subsequently translated the major dramas of Shakespeare, several of the works of Goethe, Schiller, Kleist, and Ben Jonson, and poems by Petöfi, Verlaine, Swinburne, Shelley, and others. In Early Trains, a collection of poems written since 1936, was published in 1943 and enlarged and reissued in 1945 as Wide Spaces of the Earth. In 1957 Doctor Zhivago, Pasternak's only novel - except for the earlier "novel in verse", Spektorsky (1926) - first appeared in an Italian translation and has been acclaimed by some critics as a successful attempt at combining lyrical-descriptive and epic-dramatic styles.
Pasternak lived in Peredelkino, near Moscow, until his death in 1960.
Pasternak's first books of verse went unnoticed. With My Sister Life, 1922, and Themes and Variations, 1923, the latter marked by an extreme, though sober style, Pasternak first gained a place as a leading poet among his Russian contemporaries. In 1924 he published Sublime Malady, which portrayed the 1905 revolt as he saw it, and The Childhood of Luvers, a lyrical and psychological depiction of a young girl on the threshold of womanhood. A collection of four short stories was published the following year under the title Aerial Ways. In 1927 Pasternak again returned to the revolution of 1905 as a subject for two long works: "Lieutenant Schmidt", a poem expressing threnodic sorrow for the fate of the Lieutenant, the leader of the mutiny at Sevastopol, and "The Year 1905", a powerful but diffuse poem which concentrates on the events related to the revolution of 1905. Pasternak's reticent autobiography, Safe Conduct, appeared in 1931, and was followed the next year by a collection of lyrics, Second Birth, 1932. In 1935 he published translations of some Georgian poets and subsequently translated the major dramas of Shakespeare, several of the works of Goethe, Schiller, Kleist, and Ben Jonson, and poems by Petöfi, Verlaine, Swinburne, Shelley, and others. In Early Trains, a collection of poems written since 1936, was published in 1943 and enlarged and reissued in 1945 as Wide Spaces of the Earth. In 1957 Doctor Zhivago, Pasternak's only novel - except for the earlier "novel in verse", Spektorsky (1926) - first appeared in an Italian translation and has been acclaimed by some critics as a successful attempt at combining lyrical-descriptive and epic-dramatic styles.
Pasternak lived in Peredelkino, near Moscow, until his death in 1960.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
May 30, 2018
*****3.5*****
The essays in the beginning of this book, written by the editor and translator, George Reavey, are excellent. Five stars for those. Reavey writes a brief biography of Pasternak and describes his artistic and creative background. He then writes about his own experience with Pasternak's work and then meeting Pasternak various times over the course of many years. There are a couple of speeches Pasternak made and then a note on translation from Pasternak, in which he discusses the artistry behind translation and why he enjoys the English language.
The poetry is harder to rate. I don't like Pasternak's earlier work. I don't dislike it either, but as someone who's not "into" poetry, it has to really grab me. I read poems aloud as I feel they're meant to be seen and heard, and I didn't connect to the earlier poems. I found this odd because I really connected to "The Poems of Doctor Zhivago" included at the end of Doctor Zhivago. How can I enjoy the poems the author wrote as the main character in his most famous work but not with poems the author himself wrote?
As the poems moved forward in chronology, though, I found myself connecting to more and more of them. They reminded me more of Doctor Zhivago's poems. In most of them, I can feel the moment of inspiration, whether it was something Pasternak saw or heard or something he felt. Usually, it's observation and experience. What I found in the earlier poems was more of the tendency to try. The inspiration wasn't as clear. It felt more like, "Let me prove that I'm a poet, that I can be existential and see beneath the surface; let me throw ideas out there even if they don't make sense." The later poems are surer, more reliant on skill with language than skill with ideas. But young Pasternak studied philosophy, and older Pasternak realized that he didn't care much for philosophy, so it makes sense and is reflected in his work.
Oddly, I felt a similar way about Doctor Zhivago, though. I thought the fragmentation of the first part of the novel was an issue with translation, and I felt that way about the poems at first. But as the novel progressed, as the poems moved forward, I felt much more connected to the work.
What I love about Pasternak is his ability to put a picture in my mind. So many of his poems made me remember scenes from Doctor Zhivago and not the words that created them but the images the words put into my mind. I also love that Pasternak can take something so simple like a tiny little thrush and create an entire poem about it. In this way, he reminds me of the Japanese haiku writers, who appreciate the beautiful simplicity of a single second. I also appreciate that Pasternak can write about the city and the country equally well, that even with the horrors of war that he saw, he can enjoy the beauty of Russia, he can tell me that Russia isn't just a communist country that's been through terrible civil strife--it's also his homeland, his beautiful country, the place where he was born and lived most of his life, the place that he clearly loved and wanted everyone to know about. Pasternak never blamed Russia for what the Russians did. I love that. Reading his work, you can almost forget that Pasternak lived through both World Wars and all the revolutions in his country. Then, there are the poems about war and his novel that tells us about the wars. Yet, even in Doctor Zhivago, the war isn't meant to be what the story is about. It's about the people, the land, Moscow. It's about life and the simple pleasures that we need to focus on to get past, through, and around the difficult parts.
I just convinced myself to give this four stars, after all.
In my updates, I listed quotes and whole poems I enjoyed. Near the end of the book, I noted these as well:
“Footprints in the Snow,” “After the Blizzard,” “Behind the Turning,” “Ploughlands,” “Journey,” “The Air’s Sonorous with the Storm Departed,” and “The Wide Wide World”
Mostly:
I am lost like a beast tracked down.
Somewhere men live in freedom and light,
But the furious chase closes in,
And I cannot break out from my plight.
A dark forest, the edge of a pond,
And a log of fir-tree uprooted.
To the world my escape has been cut.
Then befall, what to me is allotted.
What so dreadful a deed have I dared?
Am I a murderer then or a bandit?
To oblige the wide world to shed tears
At the beauty of my native land.
So be it! On the brink of the grave,
I believe in a time very near
When the spirit of good that men crave
Will prove stronger than evil and fear.
-"The Nobel Prize," January 1959
The essays in the beginning of this book, written by the editor and translator, George Reavey, are excellent. Five stars for those. Reavey writes a brief biography of Pasternak and describes his artistic and creative background. He then writes about his own experience with Pasternak's work and then meeting Pasternak various times over the course of many years. There are a couple of speeches Pasternak made and then a note on translation from Pasternak, in which he discusses the artistry behind translation and why he enjoys the English language.
The poetry is harder to rate. I don't like Pasternak's earlier work. I don't dislike it either, but as someone who's not "into" poetry, it has to really grab me. I read poems aloud as I feel they're meant to be seen and heard, and I didn't connect to the earlier poems. I found this odd because I really connected to "The Poems of Doctor Zhivago" included at the end of Doctor Zhivago. How can I enjoy the poems the author wrote as the main character in his most famous work but not with poems the author himself wrote?
As the poems moved forward in chronology, though, I found myself connecting to more and more of them. They reminded me more of Doctor Zhivago's poems. In most of them, I can feel the moment of inspiration, whether it was something Pasternak saw or heard or something he felt. Usually, it's observation and experience. What I found in the earlier poems was more of the tendency to try. The inspiration wasn't as clear. It felt more like, "Let me prove that I'm a poet, that I can be existential and see beneath the surface; let me throw ideas out there even if they don't make sense." The later poems are surer, more reliant on skill with language than skill with ideas. But young Pasternak studied philosophy, and older Pasternak realized that he didn't care much for philosophy, so it makes sense and is reflected in his work.
Oddly, I felt a similar way about Doctor Zhivago, though. I thought the fragmentation of the first part of the novel was an issue with translation, and I felt that way about the poems at first. But as the novel progressed, as the poems moved forward, I felt much more connected to the work.
What I love about Pasternak is his ability to put a picture in my mind. So many of his poems made me remember scenes from Doctor Zhivago and not the words that created them but the images the words put into my mind. I also love that Pasternak can take something so simple like a tiny little thrush and create an entire poem about it. In this way, he reminds me of the Japanese haiku writers, who appreciate the beautiful simplicity of a single second. I also appreciate that Pasternak can write about the city and the country equally well, that even with the horrors of war that he saw, he can enjoy the beauty of Russia, he can tell me that Russia isn't just a communist country that's been through terrible civil strife--it's also his homeland, his beautiful country, the place where he was born and lived most of his life, the place that he clearly loved and wanted everyone to know about. Pasternak never blamed Russia for what the Russians did. I love that. Reading his work, you can almost forget that Pasternak lived through both World Wars and all the revolutions in his country. Then, there are the poems about war and his novel that tells us about the wars. Yet, even in Doctor Zhivago, the war isn't meant to be what the story is about. It's about the people, the land, Moscow. It's about life and the simple pleasures that we need to focus on to get past, through, and around the difficult parts.
I just convinced myself to give this four stars, after all.
In my updates, I listed quotes and whole poems I enjoyed. Near the end of the book, I noted these as well:
“Footprints in the Snow,” “After the Blizzard,” “Behind the Turning,” “Ploughlands,” “Journey,” “The Air’s Sonorous with the Storm Departed,” and “The Wide Wide World”
Mostly:
I am lost like a beast tracked down.
Somewhere men live in freedom and light,
But the furious chase closes in,
And I cannot break out from my plight.
A dark forest, the edge of a pond,
And a log of fir-tree uprooted.
To the world my escape has been cut.
Then befall, what to me is allotted.
What so dreadful a deed have I dared?
Am I a murderer then or a bandit?
To oblige the wide world to shed tears
At the beauty of my native land.
So be it! On the brink of the grave,
I believe in a time very near
When the spirit of good that men crave
Will prove stronger than evil and fear.
-"The Nobel Prize," January 1959
August 20, 2018
La recensione di Scarabooks a Il dottor Zivago mi ha ricordato quanto sono meravigliose le poesie di Boris Pasternak. Così ho tirato giù il libro dallo scaffale, l'ho aperto a caso e ne ho riletta qualcuna...
Dichiarazione
Essere donna è un gran passo,
fare impazzire, eroismo.
E io dinnanzi al miracolo di mani,
schiena, spalle e di un collo di donna
con devozione di servo
la vita tutta riverisco.
Ma per quanto la notte m'incateni
con un anello d'angoscia,
più forte è al mondo l'aspirazione ad evadere
e la passione attira alle rotture.
(Boris Pasternak)
Dichiarazione
Essere donna è un gran passo,
fare impazzire, eroismo.
E io dinnanzi al miracolo di mani,
schiena, spalle e di un collo di donna
con devozione di servo
la vita tutta riverisco.
Ma per quanto la notte m'incateni
con un anello d'angoscia,
più forte è al mondo l'aspirazione ad evadere
e la passione attira alle rotture.
(Boris Pasternak)
February 10, 2024
„Във всичко искам да прозра
до същината.
И труд, и път да разбера,
и смут в душата.
Да вникна в миналите дни
с причини, цели,
до корена, до глъбини
и до предели.
Да хващам нишката пред мен
в съдби, събития,
да мисля, чувствам окрилен
с любов, с открития.
О, само ако можех аз,
и то отчасти,
в октави бих възпял и страст,
и всички страсти.
И беззакония, и грях,
и нежелани
злини, преследвания, страх
и лакти, длани.
Закон извел бих за страстта
и отначало
дарявал бих я до смъртта
с инициали.
Садил бих стихове край мен.
Цъфтели биха
липи сред парка подреден
в редица тиха.
Щях дъх на рози и на дъжд
в стиха да туря,
лъки, ливади и камъш,
и гръм на буря.
Успя тъй някога Шопен
да стори чудо,
села, нивя, простор зелен
побрал в етюди.
На сбъднатите тържества
игра и мъка.
Натегнатата тетива —
докрай! — на лъка.“
Превод: Кирил Кадийски
до същината.
И труд, и път да разбера,
и смут в душата.
Да вникна в миналите дни
с причини, цели,
до корена, до глъбини
и до предели.
Да хващам нишката пред мен
в съдби, събития,
да мисля, чувствам окрилен
с любов, с открития.
О, само ако можех аз,
и то отчасти,
в октави бих възпял и страст,
и всички страсти.
И беззакония, и грях,
и нежелани
злини, преследвания, страх
и лакти, длани.
Закон извел бих за страстта
и отначало
дарявал бих я до смъртта
с инициали.
Садил бих стихове край мен.
Цъфтели биха
липи сред парка подреден
в редица тиха.
Щях дъх на рози и на дъжд
в стиха да туря,
лъки, ливади и камъш,
и гръм на буря.
Успя тъй някога Шопен
да стори чудо,
села, нивя, простор зелен
побрал в етюди.
На сбъднатите тържества
игра и мъка.
Натегнатата тетива —
докрай! — на лъка.“
Превод: Кирил Кадийски
March 4, 2019
It is not revolutions and upheavals
That clear the road to new and better days,
But revelations, lavishness and torments
Of someone's foul, inspired and ablaze.
(from "After the Storm"
That clear the road to new and better days,
But revelations, lavishness and torments
Of someone's foul, inspired and ablaze.
(from "After the Storm"
July 24, 2023
Fui procurar o novo livro da Pasternak no Z Library (porque não vou pagar por um livro que emite opiniões como fosse uma pós adolescente recém entrada na faculdade que tem zero conhecimento do que é psicanálise) e felizmente dei de cara com algo muito melhor, essa coletânea de poemas do Boris Pasternak que me ajudou a passar a semana em que Dick Face esteve internado por atropelamento, posterior falecimento e meu processo de luto.
Gostei bem mais da segunda metade do livro, a fase madura de Pasternak, nem todo mundo é Rimbaud pra acertar tudo na juventude, mas seus poemas dos anos 50 quando estava bem desiludido com a União Soviética são os que mais reverberaram em mim.
Gostei bem mais da segunda metade do livro, a fase madura de Pasternak, nem todo mundo é Rimbaud pra acertar tudo na juventude, mas seus poemas dos anos 50 quando estava bem desiludido com a União Soviética são os que mais reverberaram em mim.
July 19, 2013
Maybe it was the translation.
July 15, 2025
"Amare gli altri è una pesante croce,
ma tu sei bella senza ghirigori,
ed il segreto della tua vaghezza
è l'enigma risolto della vita."
ma tu sei bella senza ghirigori,
ed il segreto della tua vaghezza
è l'enigma risolto della vita."
February 14, 2012
Mi edición no es exactamente la misma que acabo de crear, sin embargo, esta es la edición más común en el mercado (si es que aun se encuentra en algún lado, debe ser esta) Las traducciones de Vicente Gaos son muy buenas, en especial la del teniente Schmidt y Magdalena, a veces recuerdan a algunos momentos de Rubén Bonifaz Nuño, curiosos pero efectivos castillos gramaticales. La editorial Letras Vivas y en especial la colección de los llamados "poetas de la banda eriza", siempre han estado mal formados y plagados de errores tipográficos. Esta edición en especial es la más infame al respecto, llegando algunos versos a volverse ininteligibles debido al descuido de la formadora.
Pasternak, por otro lado, es un poeta de la sencillez, de la reflexión lucida al final del poema, después de un paseo por las emociones. Quisiera saber ruso para leerlo en su lengua original y no tener que depender de estas ediciones tan pinchis (aunque nada tengo aqui contra el trabajo de Vicente Gaos, sólo me pesa la fragmentareidad de lo leido).
Conseguiré una poesía completa. Sólo me aseguraré que no sea de Visor, ja.
Pasternak, por otro lado, es un poeta de la sencillez, de la reflexión lucida al final del poema, después de un paseo por las emociones. Quisiera saber ruso para leerlo en su lengua original y no tener que depender de estas ediciones tan pinchis (aunque nada tengo aqui contra el trabajo de Vicente Gaos, sólo me pesa la fragmentareidad de lo leido).
Conseguiré una poesía completa. Sólo me aseguraré que no sea de Visor, ja.
June 10, 2022
Book 102 out of 200 books
"Poems of Boris Pasternak" by Boris Pasternak
Including the some but not all, poems from "Poems of Dr. Zhivago", "Poems of Boris Pasternak" is another volume of published poetry by Boris Pasternak, written throughout the 1950s before he died.
MY THOUGHTS:
Just like from the previous poetry collection, I liked the poem "Hamlet" the most, because in my opinion, is Pasternak's greatest poem.
The other poems of this collection is great, but never mediocre at all. I liked and disliked some poems here. I even copied some Pasternak poems from this collection to my diary as a form of design. Overall good poetry and I'd recommend this poetry collection for those who want to start with poetry of any kind.
"Poems of Boris Pasternak" by Boris Pasternak
Including the some but not all, poems from "Poems of Dr. Zhivago", "Poems of Boris Pasternak" is another volume of published poetry by Boris Pasternak, written throughout the 1950s before he died.
MY THOUGHTS:
Just like from the previous poetry collection, I liked the poem "Hamlet" the most, because in my opinion, is Pasternak's greatest poem.
The other poems of this collection is great, but never mediocre at all. I liked and disliked some poems here. I even copied some Pasternak poems from this collection to my diary as a form of design. Overall good poetry and I'd recommend this poetry collection for those who want to start with poetry of any kind.
March 15, 2022
For as much as I absolutely adore Pasternak’s prose, I couldn’t hear the music in much of his poetry. This could be down to translation or it could be taste, I’m not sure which. The later poems were able to reach me a bit more, but I had the same trouble with them, just to a lesser degree. At this end of this volume there is the text of a speech that Pasternak gave at the Writers’ Plenum in Minsk, February 1936, though, which fully restored my faith in the man and his artistry. I’m going to give him a pass on the poems.
July 9, 2023
The first 2/5 of this book is an absolutely fantastic 100-page introduction to Pasternak's life and work by translator George Reavey. It is downhill from there. Pasternak himself said that his poetry was crap until his book EARLY TRAINS in 1943. I agree with him. The excerpts from that book do not begin until page 173. The poems improve a lot from that point, but only about half of the poetry by page count is Pasternak's better work. I am glad I read the introduction and pp. 173-248. The nine-page speech that closes out the book requires specialized knowledge to be fully informative.
Read
March 11, 2024My soul, my charnel house,
All things we've witnessed here,
Mill-ground without a truce,
Thou turnest into pulp.
Go on, and further grind
My whole life's way and toil,
Some forty years in kind,
Into a graveyard soil.
All things we've witnessed here,
Mill-ground without a truce,
Thou turnest into pulp.
Go on, and further grind
My whole life's way and toil,
Some forty years in kind,
Into a graveyard soil.
March 18, 2022
Två plus tre gör två.
June 18, 2022
Pasternak is superb - was happy to take a break to read poetry.
March 18, 2025
Tiene algunos poemas interesantes pero ninguno memorable.
August 26, 2019
Ce livre propose une choix de poèmes de Boris Pasternak sélectionné par sa fille. L'auteur est lui-même fils d'artistes connus. Pas du tout monotones, les poèmes se succèdent les un après les autres dans une très belle musicalité. Maginifiques.
October 20, 2012
"In toate, Doamne, as vrea s-ajung
La ultimu-nteles.
Esenta drumului cel lung
Si-a sufletului, mai ales".
La ultimu-nteles.
Esenta drumului cel lung
Si-a sufletului, mai ales".
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews