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

traveled by his ancestors. Similarly, the acrobat walks lightly on his tightrope, like a
perfectly balanced scale. Both poems describe a fall: the destined fall of the grain into
the black earth (оно должно упасть), and, by metaphorical association the fall of the
poet's soul; the potential fall of the acrobat, and, by direct association, that of the poet.
More important than either fall, however, is the steady progress of the grain and
acrobat along a difficult but defined route: the grain's way from death to rebirth; the
acrobat's tightrope from roof to roof. Both poems emphasize this progress through the
use of words related to movement and paths. "Путем зерна" is full of motion verbs, and
Khodasevich repeats the word путь three times in the poem. In "Акробат" the only
actions (verbs) attributed to the acrobat are walking and, potentially, falling. By contrast,
the viewers all remain in one spot, sticking up their noses, crowding together, whispering,
waiting, observing. The repetition of the line "Легко и спокойно идет акробат," like
the repetition in the title poem of the phrase "идет путем зерна"/"идти путем зерна,"
suggests that despite the harsh environment, time is passing, and the lyric hero is moving
forward.
This progress is most specifically highlighted by the verb проходить/пройти (to
walk; to pass through). The first word of "Путем зерна," it opens up the poem and
indeed the entire final edition of the book. The sower/poet walks out among the even
furrows of fertile soil (Проходит сеятель по ровным бороздам). Later in the poem,
Khodasevich compares the grain's way to that of his country and people who will die and
be reborn, having passed through this difficult year (пройдя сквозь этот год). This verb
appears in the book Путем зерна only one other time—in the penultimate line of
"Акробат": Поэт, проходи с безучастным лицом. Like the poet of "Путем зерна" the
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