The creative evolution of B. Pasternak: a change in the language and style of poetic texts

The writing

The theme of creativity is one of the main ones in the poetry of B. L. Pasternak. It arises in the earliest poems of the poet and runs through all his work. Being a symbolist, futurist or simply a poet, Pasternak always refers to this topic, defining his attitude to the problems of creativity, poet and poetry. The theme of creativity in Pasternak's poetry must be considered in connection with the stages of the poet's creative path and changes in his poetic ideals.

Pasternak's entry into literature is associated with his participation in literary circles that formed around the symbolist publishing house Musaget. Symbolist concepts, symbolist aesthetics determined the features of Pasternak's early work. In 1913, Pasternak joined the Lyrica literary group. In 1914, Lyrica published Pasternak's first collection of poems, The Twin in the Clouds. The touch of symbolism in this book was quite strong. Pasternak's poems of that time are replete with metaphors, allegories, associative imagery.

A split occurs in Lyric, and Pasternak joins the futuristic current of Russian poetry, he is a member of the Centrifuge group. In 1917, Pasternak wrote an article for the "Third Collection of Centrifuges" "Vladimir Mayakovsky. "Simple as a moo." Petrograd 1916. In this article, Pasternak expresses his joy at the existence of a talented poet Mayakovsky and expresses two requirements that must be applied to a real poet and which Mayakovsky's poetry meets. First, the clarity of creativity. Secondly, responsibility before eternity, which is the judge of a true poet. In his article, Pasternak compares creativity with the categories of eternity and immortality. This is how Pasternak understands the role of the poet, and this attitude towards the poet and poetry will run through all his work.

Since 1918, Pasternak has been gradually freed from the aesthetic requirements of various literary movements. In the article “A Few Propositions”, Pasternak declares himself as an independent poet, not bound by the aesthetic requirements of various literary declarations. Now Pasternak strives for simplicity in his poems, naturalness becomes for him the most important sign of true art.

In 1922, Pasternak's next collection, My Sister - Life, was released. The theme of the poet and poetry is heard in this collection in the cycle "Engaging in Philosophy". Pasternak tries to give a philosophical definition of creativity in the poems "Definition of Poetry", "Definition of the Soul", "Definition of Creativity". Creativity is inherently cosmic for Pasternak, it is genetically connected with the universe.

The theme of creativity sounds most difficult in Pasternak's novel "Doctor Zhivago" and in the poet's last collection of poetry "When it clears up." The hero of Doctor Zhivago, Yuri Zhivago, expresses Pasternak's own views on the poet's mission in the world. Zhivago is a creative person; in one of the letters, Pasternak admitted: "This hero will have to represent something in between me, Blok, Yesenin and Mayakovsky." Yuri Zhivago dies in 1923, among his papers are found poems he once composed, which make up the last chapter of the novel. These verses express Pasternak's main idea about the eternity of poetry, about the immortality of the poet.

Pasternak is a Christian, Orthodox poet. Creativity for him is a gift from God, like life itself. From the Orthodox religion, Pasternak takes the idea of ​​the complete acceptance of life in all its manifestations, as well as the idea of ​​absolute freedom of creativity. Pasternak understands that only faith reveals all creative abilities. This idea is especially strongly expressed in the late lyrics of Pasternak, pouring like a staircase along which the poet approaches God.

In Pasternak's last collection, "When it's clearing up," the theme of creativity sounds in the poems "In everything I want to reach ...", "Being famous is ugly ...", "Night", etc. Let's analyze these three poems.

In the poem "In everything I want to reach ..." Pasternak says that life itself should sound in the poet's work. The poet wants to write about everything:

About iniquities, about sins,

Run, chase,

Accidents in a hurry,

Elbows, palms.

But before reproducing life in verse, he needs to understand the essence of all the phenomena that occur in life:

In everything I want to reach

To the very essence.

At work, in search of a way,

In heartbreak.

It is necessary for the lyrical hero of this poem by Pasternak to know the secrets of being, the essence of the world around him, so that a verse is born. The poet wants to create in his poems, as nature does:

In verses I would bring the breath of roses,

mint breath,

Meadows, sedge, haymaking,

Thunderstorms.

In the poem, Pasternak claims that creativity, like nature, like human life, is God's gift. The poem "Being famous is ugly ..." can be called Pasternak's poetic manifesto. In it, Pasternak writes about what a poet should be like. A true poet does not need to be famous, “you don’t need to start an archive, shake over manuscripts.” He must be alien to hype, success and imposture. Pasternak defines the goal of poetry: "the goal of creativity is self-giving," as well as the basic requirements that the work of a true poet must meet. Firstly, it is clarity and concreteness (poetry should not have "gaps", white spots, that is, incomprehensibility). Secondly, the poet must be original, and his work must be individual, and, thirdly, a true poet must be alive, that is, love life, be close to its problems:

And owe not a single slice

Don't back away from your face

But to be alive, alive and only,

Alive and only until the end.

And then the poet will be able to "attract the love of space to himself, hear the call of the future." Pasternak expresses his understanding of creativity in the poem "Night". The hero of the poem, the pilot, is identified with the poet. The pilot appears in the context of the whole world. It flies over cities, barracks, stokers, stations, trains, as well as Paris, mainlands, posters. The pilot is connected with all this, he is part of this world, part of the cosmos. So the artist is inextricably linked with the universe, with the cosmos, he is a hostage of eternity, time:

Don't sleep, don't sleep, artist

Don't give in to sleep.

You are a hostage of eternity

Time is a prisoner.

Numerous repetitions, anaphoras, iambic trimeter, an abundance of verbs create the impression of perpetual motion, dynamics. Pasternak urges poets to keep up with the times, not to renounce life.

Thus, having gone through a fascination with symbolism and futurism, having freed himself from the pressure of form over content, Pasternak comes to the real clarity and content of poetry. Throughout his life, Pasternak tries to determine the purpose of art, poetry, the purpose of the poet; especially clearly, clearly, specifically, this is formulated in his later lyrics. The theme of the poet and poetry has a philosophical solution in the work of Pasternak. It is closely connected with the religious beliefs of the poet: creativity is perceived by Pasternak as a valuable gift from God.

As for "Hamlet", the fate of Hamlet is associated with the fate of Christ, and with the mission of the poet, creator, chosen one. Hamlet renounces himself, his right to choose, in order to do the will of the one who sent him. He knows that he is fulfilling the "stubborn plan" of the Lord. He is lonely and tragic in his asceticism. “I am alone, everything is drowning in hypocrisy” - the definition of the position of the ascetic, the poet in his contemporary world.

The theme of "Hamlet" corresponds to the theme of the poem "Dawn". The lyrical hero takes on the burden of human concerns. The merger of the fate of the lyrical hero with the fate of the people is a testament from above. Immersion in everyday life, in the life of mortals becomes not only a covenant, but also a necessity and inevitability.

The affinity of the poet with the "crowd" is a theme that reflects Boris Pasternak's understanding of the essence of creativity. Poetry, according to Pasternak, like the poet's soul, is a sponge that absorbs not only the secrets of the universe, but also the little things of life.

Born January 29 (February 10), 1890 in Moscow in the family of an artist and pianist. Boris had 2 sisters and a brother. Well-known artists of that time came to the apartment where the family lived, small concerts were held, among the guests were Leo Tolstoy, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Isaac Levitan.

In a brief biography of Pasternak, this particular time can be called a creative starting point. In 1903 he met the family of the composer Scriabin. From the age of 13, Pasternak began to compose music. However, not having absolute pitch, he left music lessons after six years of study.

Education

In 1909, Boris graduated from a gymnasium in Moscow and entered the Faculty of History and Philology of Moscow University in the Philosophical Department. With the money saved up by his mother, Boris in 1912 went to Germany to the University of Marburg for the summer semester. But having lost interest in philosophy, he quits his studies and leaves for Italy for a few weeks. Pasternak is completely devoted to creativity, which has become the work of his whole life. Returning to Moscow, Pasternak completed his studies at the university in 1913.

creative life

Pasternak wrote his first poems in 1909, but at first he kept silent about his passion for poetry.

In order to enter the Moscow literary circles, Pasternak joins the poetic group Lyrica.

The very first collections of poems - "Twin in the Clouds" (1914), "Over the Barriers" (1916). In 1922, a book of poems “My sister is life” was published, which made the poet famous. It is her Pasternak considers the expression of his creative position. At the same time, he met Vladimir Mayakovsky, whose work influenced Pasternak.

In 1920-1927, Pasternak was a member of the literary association "LEF" (Mayakovsky, Aseev, O. Brik, etc.). During these years, the poet publishes the collection "Themes and Variations" (1923), begins to work on the novel in verse "Spektorsky" ( 1925), which can be considered partly autobiographical.

In 1935, Boris Pasternak wrote letters to Joseph Stalin, in which he stood up for her husband and son Anna Akhmatova.

The novel "Doctor Zhivago" is the pinnacle of Pasternak's work as a prose writer. He wrote it for a long 10 years, completing it in 1955. This novel was published abroad in 1958, Pasternak received the Nobel Prize for it. At home, this novel caused criticism both from the authorities and in literary circles. Pasternak was expelled from the Writers' Union. Later, in 1988, the novel was published in the Novy Mir magazine. The novel is completed by the protagonist's poems, which are permeated with the moral and philosophical pathos of the author's position.

Personal life

In 1921, the Pasternak family left Russia. Pasternak is actively corresponding with them, as well as with other Russian emigrants, among whom was Marina Tsvetaeva.

Pasternak marries the artist Evgenia Lurie in 1922, with whom he stayed with his parents in Germany in 1922-1923. And on September 23, 1923, their son Eugene is born (he died in 2012).

Having broken his first marriage, in 1932 Pasternak marries Zinaida Nikolaevna Neuhaus. Pasternak traveled to Georgia with her and her son in 1931. In 1938, their common son Leonid (1938-1976) was born. Zinaida died in 1966 from cancer.

In 1946, Pasternak met Olga Ivinskaya (1912-1995), to whom the poet dedicated many poems and considered his “muse”.

Last years

In 1952, Pasternak suffered a heart attack, but despite this, he continued to create and develop. Boris Leonidovich began a new cycle of his poems - "When it clears up" (1956-1959) This was the last book of the writer. An incurable disease - lung cancer, led to the death of Pasternak on May 30, 1960. The poet died in Peredelkino.

Chronological table

• Subtly noticed that being a poet is not an occupation, not a hobby and not a profession. This is not something that a person can voluntarily choose. On the contrary, poetry is a fate that chooses itself. So it happened with Pasternak. He was born into a creative family: he tried his hand at painting, studied music for a long time, studied at the Faculty of Philosophy. But in the early 1910s, Pasternak suddenly abandoned all his hobbies and activities, and went, one might say, to nowhere - to poetry.
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Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (1890-1960) - Honored Russian poet and writer, whose works were awarded the honorary title of "Russian and foreign literary fund". His famous novel Doctor Zhivago made its author a Nobel laureate, and his translations are still in great demand among readers. The life and work of this man is the pride of all our compatriots.

Boris Pasternak was born on January 29, 1890 in Moscow. We mention that, in addition to Boris, there were 3 more children in the family.

The Pasternak family moved to Moscow from Odessa, which, by the way, did not hit hard on the old acquaintances of creative parents. My father was an artist whose paintings were bought by the Tretyakov Gallery. It is worth saying that Leo Tolstoy, Mr. Rachmaninov and, of course, the family of the composer Scriabin were frequent guests in Pasternak's house - it is from this acquaintance that the literary path of the future writer begins.

Youth and education

Pasternak dreamed of becoming a great musician, so he begins to take lessons from Scriabin. In 1901, Boris entered the second grade of the gymnasium, while simultaneously studying at the Conservatory. In 1909, Pasternak graduated from the gymnasium with a gold medal and entered the Faculty of History and Philology at Moscow State University (it was then that Pasternak wrote his first poems), and already in 1912 he entered Margburg University in Germany, where he left with his mother.

He decides to give up philosophy and dedicate himself to literature, referring to the complete lack of an ear for music. As a result, his musical career ended.

Creative way: collections, mugs, success story

The first poems fall on the period 1910-1912, it was then that his lyrical hero was inspired by high feelings. The lines are shrouded in love, but not everything in the poet's personal life was so "smooth". He transfers the impressions of the break with his beloved in Venice into his poems. It was then that he began to be interested in such trends in literature as futurism and symbolism. He understands that in order to expand his path, he needs new acquaintances: he joins the Moscow circle "Lyric".

"Twin in the Clouds" (1914) - the first collection of poems by Pasternak, followed by "Over the Barriers" (1916). However, it was the book My Sister (1922) that made him famous; after its release, he became engaged to Evgenia Lurie.

The books “Themes and Variations”, “Lieutenant Schmidt”, “The Nine Hundred and Fifth Year” were published next - this was an echo of Pasternak’s acquaintance with Mayakovsky and his entry into the literary association “Lef” in 1920-1927. Boris Pasternak is beginning to be deservedly considered the best Soviet poet, but because of his friendship with Akhmatova and Mandelstam, he, just like them, falls under the "sharp Soviet eye."

In 1931, Pasternak left for Georgia, where he wrote poems included in the Waves cycle; in the same year he began to translate foreign books, including the literature of Goethe and other famous foreign writers. Immediately after the Great Patriotic War, Pasternak wrote the famous novel Doctor Zhivago, which became the main work in his work. In 1955 Doctor Zhivago was finished after 10 long years.

Personal life

In personal relationships, the poet had a real confusion. Even in his youth, he gave his heart to the artist Evgenia Lurie, she also gave birth to his first child. However, the woman was distinguished by a strong and independent disposition, often jealous of her husband for numerous acquaintances. The bone of contention was the correspondence from Marina Tsvetaeva. The couple divorced.

Then a long relationship began with Zinaida Neuhaus, a calm and balanced woman who forgave her husband a lot. It was she who gave the creator the serene atmosphere of his native hearth. However, soon the editor of Novy Mir, Olga Ivinskaya, appears in his life. She lives next door and soon becomes the author's muse. He actually lives in two families, and both women pretend that nothing is happening.

For Olga, this relationship became fatal: she gets 5 years in the camps for meeting the disgraced poet. Pasternak feels guilty and helps her family in every possible way.

Bullying and death

The authorities tried in every possible way to expel Pasternak from the country for "false coverage of facts" and "wrong worldview." He was expelled from the Writers' Union. And this played a role: the writer refused the award and expressed his bitterness in the poem "Nobel Prize".

In 1952, he survived a heart attack, and the following years passed under the yoke of the disease. In 1960, Boris Pasternak died.

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Pasternak Boris Leonidovich, whose biography is presented in this article, is one of those few masters of the word who have been awarded one of the most coveted awards - the Nobel Prize.

Biography of the poet

Boris Pasternak, whose photo is presented in the article, was born in Moscow in 1890. The poet's family was creative and intelligent. Mother is a pianist, father was a famous artist and academician. His works were highly appreciated, and some were even purchased by the famous philanthropist Tretyakov for his museum. was a friend of Leo Tolstoy and was one of his favorite illustrators.

In addition to the first-born Boris, three more children subsequently appeared in the family - the youngest son and two daughters.

Childhood

Boris Leonidovich Pasternak, whose poems had not yet been written, was in an amazing creative atmosphere from birth. The house of his parents was always hospitably open for famous guests. In addition to Leo Tolstoy, composers Scriabin and Rachmaninov, artists Levitan and Ivanov, and many other creative personalities have been here. Of course, meetings with them could not but affect Pasternak. Scriabin had the greatest influence on him, under whose influence the 13-year-old Boris was seriously engaged in music for a long time and planned to become a composer.

Boris Pasternak studied (the biography of the poet contains this fact) excellently. He graduated from the fifth Moscow gymnasium, where Vladimir Mayakovsky studied two classes below. At the same time, he studied at the composition department of the Moscow Conservatory. He graduated from the gymnasium brilliantly - with a gold medal and the highest scores in all subjects.

Hard choise

Pasternak Boris Leonidovich, whose biography would later be replenished with more than one fact of a difficult choice, after graduation was forced to make the first, very painful decision for him - to leave the career of a composer. He himself later explained in his biography that he did so because he did not have absolute pitch. In the character of the future poet, even then, purposefulness and enormous capacity for work were laid. If he started something, he brought it to perfection. Therefore, loving music very much, but realizing that he would not be able to achieve the perfection necessary for himself in this profession, Pasternak, in his words, "pulled" it out of himself.

In 1908, he entered Moscow University, first at the Faculty of Law, but a year later he changed his mind and transferred to the Philosophical Department. As always, Pasternak studied brilliantly and in 1912 continued his studies at the University of Margburg. He was promised a good career as a philosopher in Germany, but he suddenly decides to devote himself not to philosophy, but to poetry.

The beginning of the creative path

He began to try himself in poetry late, around 1910. The poems of Boris Pasternak of that period, according to the recollections of the poet's colleague in joint work in poetry circles, are completely childish in form, trying to contain a huge content.

A visit to Venice with his family in 1912 and the refusal of his girlfriend make a strong impression on Boris. This finds expression in his first poems of that period.

Upon his return to Moscow, he begins to participate in the literary circles "Musaget" and "Lyric", speaking with his poems. During these years, he was attracted by such currents in poetry as futurism and symbolism, but later he prefers not to be a member of any literary association, but to be independent.

The years 1913-1914 were rich in events for Pasternak in his creative life. First, several of his poems were published, and in 1914 the first collection "Twin in the Clouds" was published. But he considers all this so far only a test of the pen, as he is dissatisfied with the quality of his works. In the same year, he met Vladimir Mayakovsky. Pasternak as a poet falls under his influence.

Birth of a poet

The creative process is a completely inexplicable thing. Someone creates easily, as if having fun, the other carefully hones every phrase, achieving perfection. Boris Pasternak also belonged to the latter. Poetry for him is not only a great gift, but also hard work. Therefore, only the collection “My Sister is Life”, published in 1922, he considers the beginning of his literary activity. The poems of Boris Pasternak included in it were written in the summer of 1917.

Fruitful 1920s

The early 1920s were marked by several important events. In 1921, the poet's parents emigrate to Germany, and in 1922 Boris Pasternak, whose biography contains many interesting facts, marries Evgenia Vladimirovna Lurie. A year later, their son Zhenya is born.

The work of Boris Pasternak during these years was fruitful - in 1923 the collection "Themes and Variations" and two famous poems - "Lieutenant Schmidt" and "Nine Hundred and Fifth Year" - appeared. They became a literary event of those years and were highly appreciated by Maxim Gorky.

The beginning of the 1930s was the time when Pasternak was recognized by power. His works are republished annually, the poet himself in 1934 delivers a speech at the first congress of the Writers' Union. He is actually called the best poet of the country. But the authorities do not forget that the poet had the courage to intercede for the arrested relatives of the poetess Anna Akhmatova, defended Mandelstam and Gumilyov. She does not forgive anyone for this. Boris Pasternak did not escape this fate either. A brief biography of the poet says that by 1936 he was actually removed from the official literary life of the country, accusing him of a wrong worldview and detachment from life.

Pasternak's translations

It so happened that Pasternak as a translator is known no less than as a poet. He is called one of the best masters of poetic translation. Who, if not he, a wonderful poet, could feel better than others the work of another creator?

Due to the negative attitude of the authorities in the late 1930s, the poet was left without income. His works are no longer being reprinted, money is sorely lacking, and Pasternak turns to translations. In relation to them, the poet had his own concept. He believed that the translation is as independent as the original. And here he approached the work with all his meticulousness, the desire to make everything perfect.

Boris Leonidovich Pasternak, whose poems and translations are included in the golden fund of Russian and foreign literature, began translating as early as 1918. Then he was mainly engaged in the work of German poets. His main work began in 1936. He leaves for a dacha in Peredelkino and works hard on translations of Shakespeare, Goethe, Byron, Rilke, Keats, Varlen. Now his work is valued on an equal footing with the original works.

For Pasternak, translations are not only an opportunity to feed his family, but also a kind of way to realize himself as a poet in the face of persecution and refusal to publish his works. We owe to Boris Pasternak the magnificent translations of Shakespeare, which have long been considered classics.

War and post-war years

The trauma received by the writer in childhood did not allow him to mobilize to the front during the Patriotic War. But he couldn't stay away either. After graduating from military courses, he goes to the front as a correspondent. Upon returning home, in Peredelkino, he creates a cycle of patriotic poems.

The years after the war are a time of hard work. Pasternak translates a lot, since this remains his only income. In the post-war years, he writes little poetry - all his time is occupied by translations and work on a new novel.

These years account for another titanic work of the poet - the translation of Goethe's Faust.

"Doctor Zhivago" - the pinnacle of creation and the poet's favorite work

This book was the most important and favorite work of the poet. Boris Pasternak went to her for ten years. Doctor Zhivago is largely an autobiographical novel.

Start of work - 1945. At this time, the wife of the writer Zinaida Neuhaus was the prototype of the main female image of the novel. After the appearance in the life of Pasternak, who became his new muse, work on the manuscript went faster.

This novel - the main and favorite brainchild of the poet, was created for a long time - 10 years. This is actually an autobiography of the writer himself, a true story about the events in the country, starting from the beginning of the century and ending with a terrible war. For this honesty, Doctor Zhivago was categorically rejected by the authorities, and Boris Pasternak, whose biography keeps the events of this difficult period, was subjected to real persecution.

It is difficult to imagine how hard it was to endure universal censure, especially from colleagues.

In the Soviet Union, the publication of the book was refused due to the writer's ambiguous view of the October Revolution. The novel was appreciated only abroad. It was published in Italy. In 1957, Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago saw the light of day and became an instant sensation. This work in the West received the most enthusiastic reviews.

1958 is an amazing date. The awarding of the Nobel Prize is for the poet both the greatest joy from the high recognition of his talent by the world community, and real grief because of the persecution resumed with renewed vigor. He was offered to be sent out of the country as a punishment, to which the poet replied that he could not imagine himself without the Motherland. All the bitterness of that period Pasternak succinctly and harshly described in the poem "Nobel Prize", written in 1959. He had to refuse the award, and for this poem, published abroad, he was almost accused under the article "treason." It was saved by the fact that the publication took place without the consent of Pasternak.

Boris Pasternak - short poems of the poet

If we talk about the early work of the poet, the influence of symbolism is strongly felt in it. Very complex rhymes, incomprehensible images and comparisons are typical for this period. Pasternak's style changed dramatically during the war years. Poems seem to acquire ease and simplicity of reading. They are easy and quick to remember, and it's nice to just read them in a row. This is especially true of the short poems of the poet, such as "Hop", "Wind", "March", "Hamlet". The genius of Pasternak lies in the fact that even in his smallest poems there is a huge philosophical meaning.

Boris Pasternak. Analysis of the poem "July"

The poem belongs to the late period of the poet's work. It was written in 1956, when Pasternak was resting in the summer at his dacha in Peredelkino. If in his early years he wrote elegant poems, then later a social orientation and the poet's favorite theme appear in them - an understanding of the inseparability of the world of nature and man.

"July" is a vivid example of landscape lyrics. The title of the work and its theme are exactly the same. What main idea did Boris Pasternak want to convey to the reader? July is one of the most beautiful summer months, causing sincere admiration of the author. And he wants to describe his lightness, freshness and charm.

The poem consists of two parts. The first part creates an atmosphere of mystery - who is the guest who entered the house? A brownie, a ghost, a ghost that runs in, frolics and sneaks?

In the second part, the secret of the mysterious guest is revealed - this is a mischievous-July, the month of midsummer. The poet humanizes July, using personifications for this: brownie, unkempt disheveled, visitor tenant.

A feature of the poem is the use of vivid visual images by the author: July “rips the tablecloth off the table”, “runs in in a whirlwind of draft”.

The personal life of the poet

Boris Pasternak, whose biography cannot be complete without a story about his family, was married twice. As a person living with emotions, he was a passionate person. Not so much as to stoop to banal betrayals, but he could not remain faithful to one beloved woman.

The first wife of the poet was the charming Evgenia Lurie, a young artist. They met in 1921, and the poet considered this meeting symbolic for himself. At this time, Pasternak finished work on the story "Childhood of Luvers", the heroine of which was called Eugenia, and seemed to see her image in the girl.

Eugene has become a real museum of the poet. Refined, gentle, delicate and at the same time purposeful and independent, she caused him an extraordinary spiritual uplift. In the first years of marriage, Boris Pasternak was probably happy for the first time. At first, a strong love smoothed out all the difficulties, but gradually the hard life of the poor in the 20s began to interfere more and more with family happiness. Evgenia was not an ideal wife, she also wanted to realize herself as an artist, and Pasternak had to take on many family concerns.

In 1926, a long correspondence begins between him and Marina Tsvetaeva, which literally drives the poet's jealous wife crazy. She can not stand it and leaves for Pasternak's parents in Germany. In the end, she decides to give up the desire to realize herself as an artist and devotes her life to caring for her husband. But by this time the poet was already getting acquainted with his second future wife, Zinaida Neuhaus. He is already forty, she is 32 years old, she is married and has two boys.

Neuhaus turns out to be the exact opposite of Evgenia Lurie. She devoted herself completely to the family, was very economic. She did not have the refinement that was inherent in the first wife of the poet. But Pasternak fell in love with this woman at first sight. The fact that she is married and has children did not stop him. Now he saw his life only with her.

In 1932 he divorced Evgenia and married Zinaida. After parting with his first wife, he all the years, until his death, helped her and his son and maintained relations.

Pasternak was also happy with his second wife. Caring, economic, she tried to provide him with comfort and peace, and was also a muse for the poet. In the second marriage, a son, Leonid, was born.

Family happiness lasted, as in the first marriage, a little more than 10 years. Pasternak increasingly began to linger at the dacha in Peredelkino and increasingly moved away from his wife. Once, in the editorial office of the Novy Mir magazine, he met Olga Ivinskaya, who worked there as an editor. She became the last muse of the poet.

Several times they tried to leave, because Pasternak did not want to leave his wife, she meant a lot to him, and the poet could not afford to treat her so cruelly.

In 1949, Ivinskaya was arrested and sent to camps for 5 years for her relationship with Boris Pasternak. And all these years he took care of her elderly mother and children, providing money. This difficult time did not pass in vain - in 1952 the poet was hospitalized with a heart attack.

After her return, Olga became Pasternak's unofficial secretary - she manages all his affairs, communicates on his behalf with the editors, and reprints his works. Until the end of the poet's life, they no longer parted.

Last years

There is no doubt that it was the persecution that unfolded around the poet that greatly crippled his health. The heart attack suffered in 1952 also made itself felt.

In the spring, at the beginning of April 1960, Pasternak fell ill from a serious illness. No one suggested that he had cancer, which had already metastasized to the stomach. In early May, the poet realizes that the disease is fatal, and he will not recover. May 30 Boris Pasternak dies. All this time, his wife Zinaida was at his bedside, who will outlive her husband by 6 years and die from the same disease. The poet and his entire family are buried in the cemetery in Peredelkino.

The work of the remarkable Russian poet, writer and translator Boris Pasternak has forever entered world literature. His peculiarity as a poet is a picturesque expressive style and amazing imagery of poetry.

If it is true that the artist creates in order to make people fall in love with him, and this is hinted at by the line that sets the poet the task of “attracting the love of space to himself,” then Pasternak, not only in literature, but in life, was all such creativity.

There is something in common between the work of his father - the wonderful Russian painter Leonid Pasternak - and his own. The artist Leonid Pasternak captured the moment, he painted everywhere: at concerts, at a party, at home, on the street, making instant sketches. His drawings seemed to stop time. His famous portraits are alive to the extraordinary. And after all, in fact, his eldest son Boris Leonidovich Pasternak did the same in poetry: he created a chain of metaphors, as if stopping and surveying the phenomenon in its diversity. But a lot was also passed on from her mother: her complete dedication, her ability to live only by art.

At the very beginning of his poetic path, in 1912, Pasternak found very capacious words to express his poetry:

And, as in unheard-of faith,

I'm moving on this night

Where the poplar is dilapidated gray

He hung the moon boundary.

Where is labor as a revealed mystery,

Where the surf whispers apple trees,

Where the garden hangs like a piling

And holds the sky before him.

("Like a bronze brazier")

To get involved in the poetic life of Moscow, Pasternak joined the group of poets headed by Yulian Anisimov. This group was called Lyrica. And the first printed poems were those that were included in the collection "Lyrics", published in 1913. These poems were not included by the author in any of his books and were not reprinted during his lifetime.

I dreamed of autumn in the half-light of glasses,

Friends and you in their clownish crowd,

And, like a falcon that has extracted blood from heaven,

The heart descended into your hand.

But time passed, and grew old, and deafened,

And a silver frame of canvas,

Dawn from the garden doused the glass

Bloody tears of September.

But time passed and got old. And loose

Like ice, the silk chairs cracked and melted.

Suddenly, loud, you stumbled and fell silent,

And the dream, like the echo of a bell, fell silent.

I woke up. It was dark like autumn

Dawn, and the wind, moving away, carried,

Like straw running after a cart,

A ridge of birch trees running across the sky.

In 1914, his already independent collection was published, which he called "The Twin in the Clouds." The collection did not attract much attention. Only Valery Bryusov spoke approvingly of him. Pasternak himself said: “I tried to avoid romantic tunes, extraneous interest. I didn't have to rumble them off the stage. I did not achieve a distinct rhythm, dance and song, from the action of which, almost without the participation of words, legs and arms begin to move by themselves. My constant concern was for the content. It was my constant dream that the poem itself should contain something, that it should contain "a new thought or a new picture."

Poems written in those years were then partially included by Pasternak in the cycle "The Beginning Time" - the cycle with which his collections of poems usually began to open.

I grew up. Me like Ganimera

They carried bad weather, they carried dreams.

Troubles grew like wings

And separated from the earth.

I grew up. And Compline woven

The veil wrapped around me.

We admonish with wine in glasses,

The game of sad glass ...

(“I grew up. Me, like Ganimera…”)

In 1917, even before the October Revolution, the second book of poems, Over the Barriers, was published with censored exceptions. These books constituted the first period of Pasternak's work, the period of searching for his own poetic face.

Early Pasternak strove for "material expressiveness" within the framework of "objective thematism", and this was primarily carried out in the structure of the image. The poetic image corresponds to reality, but this correspondence is of a special nature. The image is built on the associative convergence of objects, phenomena, states. It is concrete within the local limits of the theme and at the same time conveys the inner integrity, indivisibility of life. The early period ends with the poem "Marburg".

... some were blinded by all this. Others -

That darkness seemed to gouge out an eye.

The chickens were digging in the dahlia bushes,

Crickets and dragonflies ticked like teacups.

Tiles floated, and noon watched,

Without blinking, on the bucket. And in Marburg

Who, whistling loudly, made a crossbow,

Who silently prepared for the Trinity Fair ...

It can be said, without belittling a number of other, perhaps even more perfect poems for that time, that it was in Marburg that Pasternak saw life “in a new way and, as it were, for the first time,” that is, he achieved a mature originality of poetic thought.

In 1922, a collection of poems "My sister is life" was published. And it was written mainly in 1917, at the beginning of the revolutionary period. "Summer 1917" is its subtitle. This book brought Pasternak wide fame and put him among the famous Russian poets of the post-revolutionary period. Pasternak himself perceived the collection as a statement of his own creative poetry. He wrote about this collection of his poems in the following way: "... I was completely indifferent to the name of the force that gave the book, because it was immeasurably larger than me and the poetic concepts that surrounded me."

In the summer of 1917, Pasternak traveled on a personal occasion and personally observed the seething Russia. Later, in 1956, in a manuscript entitled “My sister is life,” intended for the essay “People and Positions,” he recalled: “Forty years have passed. From such a distance and antiquity, voices are no longer heard from the crowds, day and night conferring on summer venues under the open sky, as at a daytime meeting. But even at such a distance I continue to see these meetings as silent spectacles or as frozen living pictures.

Many startled and alert souls stopped each other, flocked, crowded, thought aloud. People from the people averted their souls and talked about the most important things, about how and why to live and what ways to arrange the only conceivable and worthy existence.

The contagious universality of their rise erased the boundary between man and nature. In that famous summer of 1917, in the interval between two revolutionary periods, roads, trees and stars held meetings and orated together with the people. The air from end to end was engulfed in a hot thousand-mile inspiration and seemed like a person with a name, seemed clairvoyant and animated.

Poetry was for him an inner, spiritual need. But money was needed. He began to earn money by translations already in 1918-1921. During this period, he translated five verse dramas by Kleist and Ben Jonson, intercomedies by Hans Sachs, lyrics by Goethe, S. van Lerbarg and the German Impressionists.

Already in the 1920s, Pasternak felt an attraction to epic forms - more precisely, to epic forms with a lyrical, very subjective content. History and his own life in the past become for him the main themes of his great works.

In 1925, Pasternak began to write a poetic novel - the poem "Spektorsky", - largely autobiographical. The poetic cycle "High Illness", the poems "The Nine Hundred and Fifth Year" and "Lieutenant Schmidt" are being created. In the fateful year 1937, the Soviet Writer publishing house published Pasternak's revolutionary poems Lieutenant Schmidt and 1905. The design of the book attracts attention: a uniform red star on a gray cover, like an overcoat of an NKVD officer. Obviously, this book was supposed to serve as "the letter of protection of the poet, something like a document certifying his" revolutionary consciousness ", civic loyalty." In 1928, the idea of ​​his prose book The Safe Conduct appeared, which he completed only two years later. According to Pasternak himself, "these are autobiographical passages about how my ideas about art developed and what they are rooted in."

In 1931, Pasternak went to the Caucasus and wrote poems included in the Waves cycle, which reflected his impressions of the Caucasus and Georgia.

Everything will be here: experienced

And what I still live

My aspirations and principles

And seen in reality.

The waves of the sea are in front of me.

A lot of them. They can't count

Their darkness. They make noise in a minor key.

The surf, like waffles, bakes them.

("Waves")

The rebirth of Pasternak is connected with the impressions of a trip to the Urals in the summer of 1932. Much later, Pasternak recalled: “In the early thirties there was such a movement among writers - they began to travel to collective farms, collect materials for books about the new village. I wanted to be with everyone and also went on such a trip with the idea of ​​writing a book. What I saw there cannot be expressed in words. It was such an inhuman, unimaginable grief, such a terrible disaster that it ... did not fit into the boundaries of consciousness. I got sick, I couldn’t sleep for a whole year.”

When the poet regained the gift of creative speech, his style changed beyond recognition. The outlook, the feeling of life has changed. He changed himself.

The title of the new book was On the Early Trains, after a poem written in January 1941. Here is how and this is what Pasternak now wrote about:

In the hot stuffiness of the car

I gave myself completely

A rush of innate weakness

And sucked with milk.

Through the twists and turns of the past

And the years of wars and poverty

I silently recognized Russia

Unique features.

Overcoming admiration,

I watched, idolizing

There were women, Slobozhans,

Locksmith students.

Amazing verses! Purely free from everything "chaotic and heaped" that came from the aesthetics of modernism. And these lines are not only marked by unheard-of simplicity. They are imbued with living warmth, love for the poet's morning companions. Where did the aloofness of the early poems go!

But not just a hot feeling for the "locksmiths" inspired poems. The poet, who quite recently was fascinated by peering into the "grass under his feet" in search of poetry, "Russia's unique features" were revealed. And he saw what only “prophetic eyes” can see through. People's faces seem to be illuminated by the reflection of future battles, cleared of everyday husks, inscribed in history.

The turn of the forties separates two periods of Pasternak's creative path. The late Pasternak is characterized by classical simplicity and clarity. His poems are inspired by the presence of the “huge image of Russia” that opened up to the poet.

In 1943, Pasternak made a trip to the front in a brigade of writers, to the army that liberated Orel. The trip resulted in the essays "The Liberated City" and "Journey to the Army", as well as poems depicting episodes of the battle: "The Death of a Sapper", "Pursuit", "Scouts".

In a frenzy, as if prayerful

From the corpse of a poor child

We flew over ditches and potholes

After the murderers in pursuit.

Clouds drifted at intervals

And themselves, formidable, like a cloud,

We're with hell and jokes

They crushed their viper nests.

("The pursuit")

The poetry of Pasternak during the war is unfinished, carrying questions and possibilities that have not been fully identified.

Pasternak paid much attention to love lyrics. According to Yevtushenko, after Pushkin, perhaps no one felt a woman like Pasternak:

And since from early childhood

I am wounded by the female share.

And the trace of the poet is only a trace

Her ways are no more...

And that's why this whole night in the snow doubles,

And I can't draw a line between us...

Farewell, abyss of humiliation

A challenging woman!

I am your battlefield.

If there are such beautiful verses, there are also women to whom these verses are dedicated. And they were.

The love of others is a heavy cross,

And you are beautiful without convolutions,

And the charms of your secret

The solution to life is tantamount to.

In the spring, the rustle of dreams is heard

And the rustle of news and truths.

You are from a family of such foundations.

Your meaning, like air, is disinterested.

Easy to wake up and see

Straighten verbal rubbish from the heart

And live without clogging in the future.

All this is not a big trick.

("To love others is a heavy cross")

This is how Boris Pasternak wrote about his wife Zinaida Nikolaevna. With great love, tenderness, admiration.

Pasternak also wrote his lyrical poems about his great friend O. V. Ivinskaya. She was very dear and close to him. He was afraid of losing her.

You also take off your dress

Like a grove sheds its leaves

When you fall into an embrace

In a dressing gown with a silk tassel.

You are the blessing of a disastrous step,

When life is sicker than sickness,

And the root of beauty is courage,

And it draws us to each other.

("Autumn")

It was 1946. The famous novel "Doctor Zhivago", which was regarded by its author almost as the final one, began long before it took on its novel form. Form was ahead of ideas.

The war is over, and there are new hopes. Pasternak wanted to do something big, significant - then the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe novel arose. He began it with a sketch of the old estate. There clearly appeared a large estate, which different generations re-planned according to their tastes, and the earth keeps barely visible traces of flower beds and paths.

"Doctor Zhivago" is not a novel at all, but a kind of autobiography of Pasternak himself - an autobiography in which, surprisingly, there are no external facts that coincide with the real life of the author. Nevertheless, Pasternak, as it were, writes for another about himself. This is Pasternak's spiritual autobiography, confusing the inexperienced reader with its attraction to lyric poetry.

The main character - Yuri Zhivago - a doctor, thinking, with searches, creativity, dies in 1929. After him, there are notes among other papers - individual poems written in his younger years, which in their entirety constitute the last, final chapter of the novel.

Farewell, spread wingspan,

Flight of free perseverance,

And the image of the world, revealed in the word,

And creativity, and wonderworking.

These lines end the poem "August", written by Pasternak in 1953 and included in the text of "Doctor Zhivago". Lines - farewell to the novel, work on which is completed. It went on for a long time, seven years.

Indeed, "Doctor Zhivago" is an outstanding work, neither "right" nor "left", but simply a novel from the revolutionary era, written by a poet - straightforward, pure and truthful, full of Christian humanism, with a lofty idea of ​​\u200b\u200ba man, not so popular, of course, like Gorky: “Man - it sounds proud!” - there is no bad taste in Pasternak, just as there is no pose and cheap stiltedness. A novel that depicts the era of the revolution very faithfully, but not propaganda. And real art has never been a propaganda leaflet.