Selected Poems

Introduction by Robin Milner-Gulland
Paperback
$16.00 US
5.11"W x 7.8"H x 0.24"D  
On sale Aug 26, 2008 | 96 Pages | 978-0-14-042477-5
| Grades 9-12 + AP/IB
This volume contains a selection of early works by Yevgeny Alexandrovich Yevtushenko who blazed a trail for a generation of Soviet poets with a confident poetic voice that moves effortlessly between social and personal themes. ‘Zima Junction’ vividly describes his idyllic childhood in Siberia and his impressions of home after a long absence in Moscow. Private moments are captured in ‘Waking’, on the joys of discovering the unexpected in a lover, and ‘Birthday’, on a mother’s concern for her son, while ‘Encounter’ depicts an unexpected meeting with Hemingway in Copenhagen. ‘The Companion’ and ‘Party Card’ show war from a child’s eye, whether playing while oblivious to German bombs falling nearby or discovering a fatally wounded soldier in the forest, while Yevtushenko’s famous poem, ‘Babiy Yar’, is an angry exposé of the Nazi massacre of the Jews of Kiev.
Yevgeny Yevtushenko is one of Russia’s most famous modern poets; his works have been translated into 72 languages. Born in Siberia in 1933, he published his first book of poetry at the age of 19. From the 1950s to the 1980s, Yevtushenko was an outspoken opponent of political oppression in the Soviet Union, defending artists as well as protesting the Soviet invasions of Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the European Academy of Arts and Sciences. View titles by Yevgeny Yevtushenko
Lies
Telling lies to the young is wrong
Proving to them that lies are true is wrong.
Telling them that God's in his heaven
and all's well with the world is wrong.
The young people know what you mean. The young are people.
Tell them the difficulties can't be counted,
and let them see not only what will be
but see with clarity these present times.
Say obstacles exist they must encounter
sorrow happens, hardship happens.
The hell with it. Who never knew
the price of happiness will not be happy.
Forgive no error you recognize,
it will repeat itself, increase,
and afterward our pupils
will not forgive in us what we forgave.

About

This volume contains a selection of early works by Yevgeny Alexandrovich Yevtushenko who blazed a trail for a generation of Soviet poets with a confident poetic voice that moves effortlessly between social and personal themes. ‘Zima Junction’ vividly describes his idyllic childhood in Siberia and his impressions of home after a long absence in Moscow. Private moments are captured in ‘Waking’, on the joys of discovering the unexpected in a lover, and ‘Birthday’, on a mother’s concern for her son, while ‘Encounter’ depicts an unexpected meeting with Hemingway in Copenhagen. ‘The Companion’ and ‘Party Card’ show war from a child’s eye, whether playing while oblivious to German bombs falling nearby or discovering a fatally wounded soldier in the forest, while Yevtushenko’s famous poem, ‘Babiy Yar’, is an angry exposé of the Nazi massacre of the Jews of Kiev.

Author

Yevgeny Yevtushenko is one of Russia’s most famous modern poets; his works have been translated into 72 languages. Born in Siberia in 1933, he published his first book of poetry at the age of 19. From the 1950s to the 1980s, Yevtushenko was an outspoken opponent of political oppression in the Soviet Union, defending artists as well as protesting the Soviet invasions of Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the European Academy of Arts and Sciences. View titles by Yevgeny Yevtushenko

Excerpt

Lies
Telling lies to the young is wrong
Proving to them that lies are true is wrong.
Telling them that God's in his heaven
and all's well with the world is wrong.
The young people know what you mean. The young are people.
Tell them the difficulties can't be counted,
and let them see not only what will be
but see with clarity these present times.
Say obstacles exist they must encounter
sorrow happens, hardship happens.
The hell with it. Who never knew
the price of happiness will not be happy.
Forgive no error you recognize,
it will repeat itself, increase,
and afterward our pupils
will not forgive in us what we forgave.

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