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

uncorrupted word of God, but rather that word filtered through her all too human
experience, mired in flesh. 205
Shvarts's metapoetic comments become explicit in the ninth epigraph which cites
Olga Sedakova: Поэт есть тот, кто хочет то, что все/Хотят хотеть... This epigraph
supports Shvarts's notion of the poet as a seeker of truth and meaning. The poet is not a
prophet granted truth by default—she is privileged over the non-poet only in her ability to
desire and to seek truth. The final epigraph is taken from the end of the religious poet
Igor Burikhin's long poem "Февральский демон," which concerns itself with the same
struggle between flesh and the spirit that will torment Lavinia. The lines Shvarts cites
provide a concluding call to God: И все же силою любви/с гнездом подняться от
земли./Сам Господи, благослови!.. (And with that same power of love/rise up from the
earth with the nest./The very Lord, give your blessing!) With this request for a
benediction, Shvarts embarks on Lavinia's spiritual journey toward God.
While the epigraphs at first seem like a puzzling array of unrelated thoughts, they
ultimately guide us into the book that follows. In their diversity of sources they support
the ecumenical mission set out in Paul's "circumcision of the heart"; several address the
central theme of the role of the poet and poetic work; the Rilke and Corinthians epigraphs
are tied by their association of madness and wisdom; the Rilke and Chuang Tzu citations
are connected through the technique of ellipsis. The epigraphs resonate not only with
each other and with elements of the title, but also with the subsequent poems. Jonah will
reemerge in Lavinia's poem, "Левиафан"; themes and images related to madness and
205 Mironov's epigraph is hinted at in the seventy-fifth poem of the book, "Сатори," which will be
discussed later in the chapter.
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