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

complete relinquishment of worldly attachments and desires, including the desire to be
Christlike.
In the next lesson, the Abbess makes a cross between the sun and the moon and
tells Lavinia to crucify herself. Lavinia babbles her reply:
«Нет, еще я не готова,
Не готова я еще,
Не совсем еще готова».
Лепетала, лепетала.
"No, I am still not ready,
I am still not ready,
I am still not quite ready."
I babbled, babbled.
In response, the Abbess laughs:
Аббатисса засмеялась:
«То-то, дети,
Как до дела—вы в кусты!
Будьте же смирней, смиренней.
The Abbess broke out laughing:
"Oh, you children,
As soon as it comes down to it, you run to the bushes!
But be quieter, more humble.
The Abbess's laughter suggests that she was not serious in asking Lavinia to crucify
herself. Instead, she wants her to realize the magnitude of Christ's sacrifice and to be
humble in the face of it. Lavinia, however, takes her request literally. In her extreme
desire to be Christ-like, she expects to imitate him in every way. At this point she is not
yet ready, but, as we have seen, she will undergo a type of crucifixion in the seventy-fifth
poem, "Сатори."
In the Abbess's final lesson, "Огненный урок," Lavinia complains that she has
not been able to forget the world completely (я/Все плакалась и хныкала, и ныла/…/О
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