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  • RonPrice
    Jul 26 9:32 PM 2007
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    THINKING OF YOU, BORIS PASTERNAK

    The famous Russian poet, Boris Pasternak, sad that to be a great poet it was not enough to write poetry. One must also “contribute in some vital way to the life of the times.” It is essential that such a poet, Pasternak emphasized, “respond submissively to a high and lonely destiny.” Such a poet did not chose poetry as a vocation but was singled out, in some unmistakable fashion, by destiny. Pasternak was “overcome by an irresistible urge to write poetry.” Poetry literally seized possession of him in 1912/13. In the next few years he was confirmed in this overpowering sense that poetry came naturally to him. But it did not consume him and he did not project himself as a poet and its intermittent inspirations.

    I was attracted to this analysis of Pasternak and his work in Max Hayward’s introduction to Olga Ivinskaya’s biography of Pasternak:A Captive of Time: My Years With Pasternak(Fontana, 1978). I had a similar experience, not in my early adulthood, as was the case with Pasternak, but in middle age, in my late forties. At first, I too did not project myself as a poet but, by my early sixties, the early years of my late adulthood(age 60 to 80), I had become comfortable with this label, this literary avocation, this terminological assignation, this new, this fresh and personal poetic nomenclature. I had contributed to my society in a vital way as a teacher for over 30 years. My emotions and perceptions had gone through at least fifteen years(1992-2007) of an exceptional pitch of intensity; an impetuous flow of language had been released, a flow which showed no signs of letting up.-Ron Price with thanks to Max Hayward, “Introduction,” A Captive of Time: My Years With Pasternak, Olga Ivinskaya, Fontana Books, 1978.

    It was not a revolution and a love affair
    that brought on this impetuous flow;
    I’m not sure I will ever know for sure
    but it was another type of love affair
    that had slowly ripened over decades,
    so unobtrusively amidst the ragged bone
    and chouder shops, the fatigue, the talking--
    the endless talking not to mention listening—
    surely one of life’s most demanding tasks
    after fifty years(1949-1999) of being subjected
    to an excess of speech and its deadly poisons.

    I, too, Boris, had my melancholy and depressions,
    so low I fell in love with thanatos, easeful death,
    but, as you said, there would appear once more
    “things that have long lain dormant: noble, creative
    and great things...a time of final accounting.”
    And, Boris, it has appeared and I think of you.1

    1 Boris Pasternak, Front Page in Olga Ivinskaya, op.cit. Pasternak told his readers to think of him after he has passed on, when life would be richer and more fruitful than ever before, at a time of a great accounting.

    Ron Price
    26 July 2007


  • RonPrice
    July 26, 2007
    Reply

    Trying To Create A Discussion

    I posted the above in the process of trying to create a discussion, but I don't think I posted the above in the right section of this site. Please advise when time permits what the best process is for me to initiate such a discussion. -Ron Price, Tasmania

  • rufina caraid
    July 28, 2007
    Reply
    Ron if I may suggest the 'About Poetry' forum may be a more fitting place for your topic. Regards, Von

  • I-Like-Rhymes
    July 28, 2007
    Reply
    This begs the question what is a 'great' poet. Is he/she one who gets aclaim for their efforts from all around or is it someone who gets aclaim from a 'knowlegeable' few. Does a great poet, once so designated, remain a great poet for ever or only so long as current tastes are in accord with his/her output?
    Personally I believe there are great people who happen to be poets and in that sense I would agree with Pasternak that the poet must have made some committment to society which entitles them to be described as great.
    Alas there are many very well known and applauded poets who have made little if any real contribution to society and I shudder when I hear them described as great.
    As for a poet chosing to be a poet or being compelled to write poetry I fail to see any distinction.
    Those who claim to be driven to write poetry are merely those who chose to write poetry but require to promote themselves. I (try to) write poetry. Sometimes I get a feeling that something really deserves to be a subject for my efforts. I could claim to be driven to write it but that is a claim that is impossible to substantiate. Would I or the world have been any different if I had not written it? Perhaps! but no less or no more different than if I had had cornflakes instead of wheetabix for my breakfast.
    To say that we are driven to do anything is a long stride down the road of pre-destination. I still believe we choose.
    JS
    July 2007
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