Solar Eclipse 1914: Selected Poems

by Arseny Tarkovsky, Peter Oram (Translator)

«Readers will be deeply grateful to the late Peter Oram for giving new life to the work of a major Russian poet who has never been fully recognized in the English-speaking world - even if his haunting words have been heard in Russian by the millions who have seen his son's film Mirror.
Arseny Tarkovsky lived through the Soviet period from beginning to end, preserving his inner independence and leaving a precious legacy of memorable lyrics that achieve a dream-like potency of suggestion. Oram's inventive and beautifully shaped translations combine in an exemplary way poetic freedom and a careful attention to the form and the sentiment of the originals.»
Peter France Professor Emeritus, University of Edinburgh

Genres: Poetry

84 pages, Paperback

Published May 1, 2021

About the author

Arseny Alexandrovich Tarkovsky (Russian: Арсений Александрович Тарковский, June 25 [O.S. June 12] 1907, Elisavetgrad – May 27, 1989, Moscow) was a prominent Russian poet and translator. His poems appeared in the films The Mirror and Stalker, directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, his son.

He was a friend of Marina Tsvetaeva, and is sometimes referred to as the "Last Love of Marina Tsvetaeva". Being younger than Anna Akhmatova and Marina Tsvetayeva he imbibed the poetic traditions of the Silver Age generation and interpreted them through the prism of his personality in his creativity.

He composed his own poetry throughout his life, but did not publish it until his fifties.

Reviews

[Bat]

I picked this up rather impulsively as my first introduction to Arseny Tarkovsky’s poetry, and while I did love the poems, after some further research I’ve come to realize that I much prefer other translations of his work. I won’t give this volume a rating, but I will be swiftly ordering another collection of his work.

[Airam · Rating 2 out of 5]

This translation took too many liberties for my preferences. Five stars for the original, though.