THE BOOK OF POEMS IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY ... - TopReferat

gamut of emotions—a "fiery desire for death" (пламенное желание—смерти) in
"Когда"; a capricious love of play in "Игра"; angry spite in "Лазарь" ("Ты, Строитель,
сам пустоглазый,/ну и добро!").
It is not a surprise that Gippius and the lyrical persona of "Равнодушие" are not
in agreement. This poem, like "В черту" and "Час победы," has none of the personal
markers found in "Eternité Frémissante" or "Вечноженственное." In her only narrative
poetic cycle, Gippius has created a fictional persona, one whose successful spiritual
journey, like Saint Teresa's, can act as a model and inspiration.
Journey Homewards
With "Eternité Frémissante" and "Равнодушие," Gippius provides two distinct
conclusions to two disparate cycles. Despite their differences, both poems direct the poet
from her conflicted past and present toward an ideal future. Their placement next to each
other near the end of the book creates a sense of spiritual climax. The following poems
which conclude the book bring the poet back to earth. Knowing that the ideal future can
only be attained after her earthly life, the lyric persona first desires and anticipates her
own death—the necessary step toward rebirth or resurrection. Encountering difficulties
which evoke the earlier theme of exile and the book's spiritual guide, St. Thérèse, she
resorts to a desperate plea for home in the final poem of the book, "Домой."
In "Когда?," the first poem to follow "Равнодушие," the poet longs for death:
В церкви пели Верую,
весне поверил город.
Зажемчужилась арка серая,
засмеялись рои моторов.
Каштаны веточки тонкие
в мартовское небо тянут.
Как веселы улицы звонкие
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