The Selected Poems of Osip MandelstamNew York Review of Books, 2004 M08 31 - 192 pages Osip Mandelstam is a central figure not only in modern Russian but in world poetry, the author of some of the most haunting and memorable poems of the twentieth century. A contemporary of Anna Akhmatova, Marina Tsvetayeva, and Boris Pasternak, a touchstone for later masters such as Paul Celan and Robert Lowell, Mandelstam was a crucial instigator of the "revolution of the word" that took place in St. Petersburg, only to be crushed by the Bolshevik Revolution. Mandelstam's last poems, written in the interval between his exile to the provinces by Stalin and his death in the Gulag, are an extraordinary testament to the endurance of art in the presence of terror. This book represents a collaboration between the scholar Clarence Brown and W. S. Merwin, one of contemporary America's finest poets and translators. It also includes Mandelstam's "Conversation on Dante," an uncategorizable work of genius containing the poet's deepest reflections on the nature of the poetic process. |
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already appeared beginning birds blessed blood blue born breath called Canto cello century color coming course Dante Dante's dark dead death direction earth English eyes face falls father flame flowing flying give glass green grow hand head hear heart images imagine Inferno it's Italian Italy January keep kind known language leaves light lines lips literally live look Mandelstam March material meaning Moscow moving nature never night notes once organ original past poem poet poetic poetry prison purely remember ring rose runs Russian sense singing sleep snow sometimes song soul sound space speak speech spring stars stone street structure swallow tears there's things thought translated transparent turned voice Voronezh whole