I've got to read ~40 poems from 1800-1950 for my russian class... After just 8 weeks of class. Our teacher has admitted they'd be a bit difficult 😅 but I'm struggling loads. Do you have any ideas as to how I can work through this poetry with so little knowledge? Example poems are Поэт, Арион, Exegi Monumentum from Pushkin and then other poets like Федор Тютчев, Осип Мандельштам, Александр Блок...
I've got to be prepared to discuss them in depth in January and to discuss linguistic features and meaning, but I'm struggling even with the language.
Do you have any tips for managing poetry in russian or wrapping my head around it? Sorry that this is a bit of a messy and undirected ask but I'm really struggling :/
Wow, I don’t even know where to start.
First of all, this is not a surprise that you are struggling with the Russian classic poetry. Many native Russian speakers struggle with classic Russian poems dated back 1800 a lot! Obsolete vocabulary, outdated grammar, and the events they referred to are way out of the sight of the modern readers. To put in mildly, I would never use those poems to teach my students, unless they are advanced students with strong background in Russian history, literature and linguistics.
For example, in the poem Арион that you mentioned the following words are not familiar to the modern readers, because they are either obsolete or uncommon:
кормщик - helmsman (he who is responsible for steering a ship)
Some words are spelled in an obsolete way:
- вихорь instead of вихрь, whirlwind
There are a few short adjectives used:
полн - instead of полный, full
мощны - instead of мощные, strong, powerful.
Even if you knew these words, you wouldn’t recognize them in their short form.
Add the outdated syntax, adverbial participles and other rare piculiarities - and you get a puzzle rather than a poem.
Though the poem depicts a ship being wrecked in a storm, it is a metaphor for the Decembrist revolt. Many friends of Pushkin were exiled, and some were even executed, but somehow Pushkin survived relatively unharmed, - and hence, the image of the poet who survived a fatal accident. If you don’t know the Russian history and the complicated connections between Pushkin and Decembrists, you wouldn’t understand what this poem is about even if you could decipher the outdated vocabulary and weird syntax.
And this is just one poem...
Let me be blunt: If I were you, I would look for another teacher. Unless you are doing your major in Russian literature.
Many Russian филологи are kinda obsessed with the Russian poetry and wholeheartedly believe that it is the best Russian culture ever produced. Which could be true, but it doesn’t mean that non-native speakers should use it as a learning materials after just 8 weeks of studies.
If switching a teacher is not an option, then here is what I can suggest from the practical point of view:
- Try to find a translation for each poem you have in your list; this is how you could understand what it is about.
- When possible, try to find notes, explanations, analysis - many poems require deep knowledge of the cultural background, and the notes, explanations could be very helpful. (Native Russian speakers use the notes, too, if they want to learn more about the poem).
That would help you to get prepared for the discussion.
- Write down all “dark“, unclear phrases and expressions - and bombard your teacher with your questions. This is how you demonstrate your sincere interest and let the teacher know that the poems are not quite adequate for the learning purpose.
- Maybe start with more modern poems and move backward in time. (Maybe not, because Мандельштам and Блок often refer to Пушкин and other classic poets, and somehow you are supposed to catch those references). Well, at least, the language would be easier.
Honestly, if I were to teach Exegi Monumentum to Russian kids, I would start with the dictionary! WTF is Александрийский столп? Who is пиит? What does “И назовет меня всяк сущий в ней язык,” mean? (hint: язык = tribe, ethnicity, an obsolete meaning of this word) etc.
I am very sorry that you have to go through all this. Definitely, this is how the language should never be taught. Imagine an ESL teacher offering The Canterbury Tales to the students on the week 8 of the course! I can only hope that you won’t lose our enthusiasm for learning Russian.
Please don’t hesitate to message me, and the best of luck!
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