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

Khodasevich explicitly mentions the relationship between the two poems in his notes to
"Вариация": Август, в Москве, после того, как накануне случилось вторично, но не
так отчетливо, как в Гирееве на террасе, утром. 69
In both poems the lyric "я"
experiences what the anthroposophists dubbed a "separation of the ethereal body"
(отделение эфирного тела 70 )—the soul separates from the body, enabling the poet to
observe his physical, earthly self from a higher plane.
While tremendously different in form ("Эпизод" is a 77 line poem 71 written in
blank verse; "Вариация" consists of three quatrains in iambic tetrameter), the poems are
tied together by several elements. The beginning of "Вариация" echoes the conclusion
of "Эпизод" (lines 68-77), a description of the lyric persona's return into the physical
world:
Снова
Увидел я перед собою книги,
И маску Пушкина, и снова за окном
Услышал возгласы. Мне было трудно
Вновь ощущать все тело, руки, ноги...
Так, весла бросив и сойдя на берег,
Мы чувствуем себя вдруг тяжелее.
Струилось вновь во мне изнеможенье,
Как бы от долгой гребли,—а в ушах
Гудел неясный шум, как пленный отзвук
Озерного или морского ветра.
Again
I saw before me my books,
Pushkin's death mask, and again outside the window
I heard voices. It was difficult
To sense again my whole body, hands, feet…
Just as, having discarded the oars and come down onto the shore,
We feel ourselves suddenly heavier.
Again exhaustion flowed in me,
As if from long rowing—and in my ears
69 Khodasevich, Stikhotvoreniia, 311. The event described in "Эпизод" took place in Gireevo.
70 Ibid., 310.
71 The poem was shortened by one line (#69) in the 1927 edition. In this discussion, I will refer to line
numbers according to the first two editions of Путем зерна.
47