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The famous Russian poet Iosif Aleksandrovich was born in Leningrad in 1940. He had a difficult childhood, which fell on the years of war and blockade.
Even after the long-awaited victory was won, poverty and hunger did not go anywhere, and little Joseph was also forced to grow up without a father.
After school, he took on any job. At the same time, he read a lot and with interest, communicated with the most famous poets of that time, and became famous in literary circles.
At the age of 22, he met the young artist Marina Basmanova, to whom he dedicated most of his works. Because of the breakup with her, he tried to commit suicide.
His life was complicated by the fact that Brodsky was arrested and accused of parasitism in 1964. In the cell, he had a heart attack, but despite this, after 4 days he ended up in a psychiatric hospital for examination, where he was mocked.
The examination recognized him as able-bodied, although he noted the presence of psychopathic features. The court sentenced Joseph to 5 years of forced labor. But these sufferings helped him become a real poet, at 25 he was already a mature young man.
Brodsky left the USSR in 1972 and became a lecturer at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. A person who graduated from the 8th grade was able to hold professorial positions for 24 years at 6 universities in the USA and England.
Joseph Brodsky is the author of many poems, including in English, plays, translations, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1987. Unfortunately, he left us early, having died at the age of 55 from a heart attack.
Brodsky’s most famous poems are still loved and appreciated not only here, but also abroad.
10 I loved you
Based on the poem “I loved you” Brodsky takes the famous work of Pushkin, but deliberately distorts its mood and meaning.
He kind of “grounds” the great Russian language, using rude expressions. Some of them are close to obscene. Interestingly, next to these simple words like “blew to hell“, there are also “high” expressions, like “chest heat” or “God bless you“. And this hodgepodge of words helps to convey the emotions of the author, has a huge impact on the reader.
One might get the impression that he is mocking Pushkin’s work. But it’s not. It’s just that Brodsky understands that he lives in a different era, where Pushkin’s creations no longer fit, so he changes them, trying to match the spirit of the times.
Instead of touching and sublime love, we observe a carnal, selfish feeling.
9. I always said that fate is a game
Poem “I always said that fate is a game” the poet dedicated to his best friend, who always understood his inner world – L. Lifshitz. He shares with him thoughts about himself and his place in this world.
The poem is not as easy as it seems, in order to solve it, you need to make an effort. The hero of this work is very lonely, but does not suffer from this, because. he is self-sufficient, he has enough available and close things.
His thoughts, as it were, reflect the era, its cultural level, which has significantly decreased. No one is striving for high ideals anymore, people have everything they need at their fingertips.
And even the author himself is busy with simple actions: he sits at the window, washed the dishes. And he accepts this reality, completely focusing on his own thoughts. His non-standard reflections help him understand the foundations of the universe.
His contemporaries, residents of the USSR, do not recognize these thoughts, considering them “second class goods”, but he is sure that they are correct and hopes that their descendants will appreciate them.
8. Outskirts to center
After reading a poem “From the outskirts to the center”, it seems that his hero left his homeland for a long time and finally decided to return. It is filled with nostalgia, sadness, longing for the past.
But in fact, the verse was written in 1962, i.e. 10 years before he left the USSR. The researchers noted that Brodsky had a strong intuition and even a certain gift of foresight. However, experts do not see anything mystical in this, because. the poet already then understood that he could not live under that political regime.
The whole world in this poem is gray, gloomy, and against the background of this sad landscape, the figure of a hero in a bright red scarf stands out, a modern dandy who is not accepted by society. But he does not despair, because. understands that he has the whole world.
7. Christmas romance
Product “Christmas Romance” was dedicated to his friend Evgeny Rein, written in 1961 (according to other sources, in 1962). Iosif Alexandrovich himself loved him very much, often read him to others.
Christmas, a time of joy, but this is not felt in the poem, the author is trying to convey to everyone his longing, his difficult state of mind. It seems to him that all people and objects share his mood.
At that time, everything related to Christianity was banned, everyone celebrated only the New Year, and this holiday is not able to improve the mood of the poet. But still at the end of the poem there is hope that the situation will change.
6. Pilgrims
Poem “Pilgrims” Brodsky wrote when he was only 18 years old. It did not fit the standards of the Soviet era. At that time, poets sang heroes, a happy future. All youth had to live for the sake of a feat and a higher idea, i.e. building communism.
The main characters of this work were ordinary wanderers who could not bring any benefit. These are some symbols of wandering that wander along unknown roads. This is the embodiment of all the sorrows of the world, and all its suffering. They see the world from the outside and are well aware that it does not change.
Someone believes that this is a prophetic work, because. Brodsky always felt like a wanderer, without a homeland and a home.
5. You return to your homeland. Well…
The author speaks ironically about himself. Poem “Return to your homeland. Well…” permeated with the theme of loneliness, which does not leave the lyrical hero even after returning to his homeland. It shows how hard it is when no one is waiting for you, how easy it is to lose loved ones.
The protagonist knows that no one needs him, but he does not cry about this, but tries to find “pros”: he does not owe anything to anyone, he has no one to blame, etc.
4. Postscriptum
Poem “Postscriptum”, like other works of his love lyrics, are dedicated to Brodsky’s love for Basmanova. The poet dreamed of marrying his beloved, but Joseph’s parents and Marianne’s father were against this union. And the girl herself did not want to lose her freedom and refused to marry even when she gave birth to a child from her lover.
Brodsky hoped that Basmanova would leave with him, but she refused. For a long time the poet could not forget her.
And this poem of his is permeated with the theme of loneliness. Life has become an existence for him. He not only cannot connect with his beloved, but also become his own in society.
3. The clouds float by
It was written in 1961. In a poem “Clouds are floating” the landscapes, the surrounding reality, the poet compares with his life, which also passes by.
They cannot be hugged or brought back. It is necessary to come to terms with the fact that every person carries death in himself. But, nevertheless, the author calls not to despair, to cry, but at the same time to sing, and also to live.
2. Loneliness
Brodsky first felt like an outcast at the age of 19, when the doors of literary magazines began to close in front of him, because. his thoughts all seemed seditious.
Based on these feelings, he writes this poem “Loneliness”, where he tries to analyze what is happening. He is not so naive as to believe in miracles, therefore, not only the present, but also the future looks not at all rosy for him.
The poet intuitively feels that there will only be trials ahead, therefore he assumes that he will remember the present days with nostalgia.
He is sure that it is better to live without illusions, i.e. “worship the given”, than to perceive all these days as serene and happy.
1. Don’t leave the room
From childhood, Brodsky had a deep dislike for the Soviet ideology, which deprived him of the freedom of creativity. It was about this that his poem was written in 1970 “Don’t leave the room”.
There is a version that he thus described the double life of a person living in the USSR, where people could openly express their views only at home. All those around who could convey became strangers, which led to loneliness, all contacts outside the home were painful.
According to another version, this poem described Brodsky’s character trait, which was good only in his personal world. Any communication made him more crippled, and he accused others of the poverty of thinking and limitations. But the poet extols his personality, because. sure that he can comprehend the highest truth.