THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Sunday, March 24, 1974
BOOKS
CHILDLIKE VISIOI
Brodsky: Bi
the invisibli
SELECTED POEMS by Joseph
Brodsky, translated by George
Kline. New York: Harper & Row.
172 pages. $5.95.
By MARY LONG
JOSEPH BRODSKY has cente'r-
ed his vision on the too-often
neglected human soul. None of
his poems could have been writ-
ten before him. There is con-
stantly within Selected Poems, a
rapture of amazement, a storing
up of new feelings, the vigor of
seeing things for the first time-
a kind of viewing the world after
the flood.
His vision is both of wonder
and struggle, and the most won-
derful of all things to him seems
the continuity and certainty of
the day-to-day flow of life-the
same daily life usually consider-
ed monotonous and empty.
All five senses intermingle;
faith, logic and conscience turn
in a circle, and out of this there
arises something s t r a n g e and
childlike. The heart of a child is
part of Brodsky's vision. And, as
in a child's world ,so the meta-
physical is more forceful in him
than the laws of physics; his
aesthetic and spiritual religion
more important than scientific
formula and, like a child, he is
more interested in final causes
than in temporal antecedents.
Born in Leningrad in 1940,
B x od rsk y has attained interna-
tional renown at a remarkably
early age. In 1972, he was offi-
cially "invited" to leave the
Soviet Union. He is currently the
University's Poet-in-Residence.
There is a close link in Brod-
sky's poetry between huge per-
ceptions and microscopic objects.
Love is explained here in set-
tings as far from classical as a
dark threadbare room for hum-
ble inhabitants. But the poet
transforms the lowliest details
into the objects of a new myth-
ology.
ALTHOUGH he is spiritual, al-
most mystical, Brodsky will
not transform himself into a
heavenly being; he is subject to
the horrors of death and strug-
gle, the agony of human separa-
tiontand the ache of human ail--
ments.
NS
inding up
e threads
He is likely to confuse the
ideal with the existing, thus often
showing a tendency towards the
sick, despair and death. Brodsky
is free, however, from the dan-
gers of morbidity. Not free from
gloom or sorrow, of course, but
his dispair is constantly balanced
by the belief in its eventual dis-
appearance and by the mystery
of salvation.
In this continuity in this link-
ing-up of invisible threads,
which continue throughout the
ages and which are taken up
here and there and connected
up again in a strange manner
and without explanation - with-
in this the wonder of life con-
sists. And it is this belief in
its continuity that explains Brod-
sky's apparent remoteness. The
mystery is a secret but it is not
obscure.
The key to this mystery is that
silence of which Brodsky speaks
in Gorbunov and Gorchakov:
'silence is the future of all
days that roll toward speech;
yes, silence is the presence
of farewells in our greetings
as we touch-
Indeed, the future of our
words is silence .. .
... Life is but talk hurled
in the face of silence."
Brodsky's real problem stems
from this silence. Out of this
most personal of personal worlds
he creates the most impersonal
of pictures, so that the word
grows into a world of its own,
assuming unique forms and shap-
es.
Often these poems have no ac-
tion and consist solely of a very
fine psychological web compoed
of elements which are not feel-
ings in the proper sense, but
sensations existing on the fron-
tier between elementary "pure-
ly physiological" sensations and
more complex 'mental" moTions
- sensations from things, roms,
trees, lige and smell, sensations
of the atmosphere of a house or
a street. And sometimes they
are simply expressed through the
delicate description of an ob-
ject.
What matters to Brodsky is not
the object or the setting but the
emotional coloring which is put
into the object by man.
It is similar to what the Im-
pressionists did in painting. Like
them Brodsky is a good technic-
ian but a better colorist. He takes
apart objects of an emotion into
simple components.
The horror of human separa-
tion is a dominant and forceful
theme. Life is splintered and
existence created anew by the
force of such events. There is a
fight to maintain the soul for life
itself, an agony impossible to
foresee. When dealing with t h e
subject of final partings, B:od-
sky's poems are dynamic, but
the feeling is something else as
well - something like the ten-
sion before a storm, about to dis-
charge itself.
Brodsky has a prese":iment of
the way to salvation; in his per-
sonal, intense poetry ne adheres
to a vision of suffering and the
silence that overtakes onz soul.
It is this suffering, salvation and
subsequent re-affirma'ibn of life
that is the closest thing .to a
fundamental theme in his work.
There is an idea of herec mis-
sion, of destiny entrusted into
mankind's hands. Beisky, al-
though born a Jew, Ahlows a
strong commitment to Christian-
ity, and the figure of Chri.St ap-
pears in several poems
And so serene and s'lemn a
state of mind as that expressed in
the poems "Nature Morte' and
"The Presentation in the Tem-
ple" imply that Brnx1sky h a s
reached that state of iner con-
viction for which there is no oth-
er adjective but "rel go:is'.
Brodsky's vision has Christ's
message as his final point here-
and Christ means to him com-
plete love and absolute faith ip
man's innerness and freedom.
Brodsk's book is a knd of re-
lease in action for the soul. In
his poetry, the most exa tedJ turns
out to be ultimately the most
simple - life, all pervasive and
all-exhaustive.
Mary Long is a Hopuicod
award winner in Poetry and
Daily staff writer.
Have a flair far
artistic writing
If You are interest-
ed in revie,%ing
poetry, and music
or writing feature
stories a but the
drama. dance, film.
arts, Contact Artr
Editor, c/aThe
Michigan Daily.
3. Brodsky on
poetry, art
and inspiration
By MARY LONG
"WE MUST HAVE coffee before we talk of
anything" Joseph Brodsky insisted, ges-
turing toward a small copper pot, an electric
grinder and a heap of fresh coffee beans. "This
making of coffee is one of the few things I
know I do very well."
In a leather Western-style hat and sandal-
ed feet, he walked into the tiny kitchen. "There
will be a little noise," he smiled, "the coffee
grinder is very noisy. But perhaps you find the
sound more enjoyable than my English."
Brodsky, who left the Soviet Unio:i in 1972,
has been the University's poet-in-residence for
just over a year. "To say goodbye at the end
of a class, perhaps forever, is a very sad thing"
he said in commenting on his role as a teacher.
"Poetry is not a subject for teaching, Poetry is
more lived through and experienced. So when
you have lived through it for a time with oth-
ers, it's like sharing the same meal or home.
"And because I am older than they are, I
can see certain things that these students will
have to endure. I know how to ease the ten-
sion. You see, I begin to think of them nearly
as my own children."
He thought for a moment and then said
decisively, "I even feel guilty. I w )uder if I
haves given them enough to be able to endure."
HIS BOOKS AND papers, in both Russian and
translation, were scattered on tables and
counters. He held a paperbound volume of Select-
ed Poems in one hand and shook his head.
"You must never take seriously any public
dimension that is given to your life. If they
celebrate you or accuse you, if you are Enemy
of the State or Celebrated Poet, take it with
earnest belief and you are dead. When you
are alone, you are really in the company of your-
self. Whatever the previous public acivity may
have been, the curtain falls and you walk alone,
finally, into your own room, your own bed."
He poured a small amount of Scotch in his
coffee. "That's Irish coffee" he smiled "Ireland
was the one country that gave me the over-
whelming feeling that it was the place where
I belonged. Even the peasants there use such
an eloquent. and great scope of language. They
are such beautiful sentimental people who laugh
and cry and sing songs in which their lives lie
in pieces at their feet."
"Even the domination of the people in Ire-
land by the church did not disturb me" Brodsky
said. "Better rule by a church than by any
government. Its a marvelous center of the Anglo-
Saxon creed."
ALTHOUGH A JEW by birth, Brodsk s poems
are filled with images of Christ and New
Testament scripture. His translator goes so far
as to call this "an increasing committment to
Christianity".
But Brodsky views Jesus as man, a "moral
archtyp, for human beings." At the age of 33
Brodsky feels he is caught up in an obsession
with the life of Christ.'
"After the age of 33, life comes as an repe-
tition. In the Bible, Christ's words in agony say
that all has passed before him. It is as if Christ
lived his life on earth according to a predestined
script - a script that only lasted 33 years,"
Placing a Purcell record on the stereo, h put
a finger to his lips. "Listen - this is lovely."
Then walking toward the back of the apart-
ment, he returned, with a photograph of his
young son Andrew, a red-haired child with a
challenging expression.
"I write" Brodsky said, formulating his
Brodsky
Almost an Elegy
In days gone by I too have waited out
cold rains near columns of the Stock Exchange.
And I assumed that it was God's own gift.
It may be that I was not wrong in this.
I too was happy once. I lived in bond
of angels. And I fought against fierce monsters.
At the main entranceway I lay in wait,
like Jacob at his ladder, for a lovely
girl running down the stairs.
But all of this
has gone, vanished forever-wholly hidden.
And gazing out the window, having written
the word 'where', I don't add a question mark,
It is September now. An orchard stands
before ine. Distant thunder stuffs my ears.
The ripened pears hang down in the thick leaves
like signs of maleness. And my ears now let
the roaring rain invade my drowsy mind-
as skinflints let poor kin into their kitchens:
as sound that's less than music, though it's more
than noise.
thoughts as he spoke, "to attempt to understand
what has happened to me. To cover my life
with my mind and conscience. It's an attempt
to discover what has really happened and whe-
ther it was right or wrong. Such an attempt
is doomed to fail, of course."
BRODSKY, WHO WAS tried in the S o v i e t
Union and imprisoned in 1963, says the peo-
ple he draws inspiration from are those who
have suffered and survived.
"I care about people who did not permit
themselves to be faked. They did not over-
estimate the value of what was being thrust
upon them and who tried to endure whatever
difficulty they were given in life. They are
a rare kind of people who do not give up."
An incomplete poem sat in the typewriter on
his desk. Brodsky nodded towards it. "T h a t
poem is to -be about my last visit to New York
City. It is coming along but it is to rhyme and
I am having a problem with that. But I will
work through it", he smiled, "there is always a
way to manage."
i
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GRADUATE STUDENTS WELCOME!
GRAD
COFFEE
HOUR
WEDNESDAY
8-10 p.m.
West Conference
Room, 4th Floor
RACKHAM
i
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ANNIVERSARY SALE
Carrots1.....................lc pkg.
Mushrooms .................. 49c pkg.
Bananas .................... 1Oc lb.
Milk..................... $1.29a.9
Cherry Hill Ice Cream ... .... 79c 1 gal.
Dannon Yogurt .............. 3 for 98c
Large Eggs .................. 79c doz.
Coke, Tab, and Fresca.......$1.29 8-pak
Lean Ground Round............ $1.19 lb.
Frying Chicken ................ 59c lb.
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Betty Crocker Cake Mix............39c
DELICATESSAN: Roast Beef, Pastrami,
and Hot Corned Beef Sandwiches
The Department of Near Eastern Studies
& The Program in Judeoic Studies
announces
the 1973-74
ZWERDLING Lectures
by
/ Dr. Chaim Robin
Professor of Hebrew Language
Hebrew University, Jerusalem
"The Hebrew Epic &
Its Linguistic Implications"
MONDAY, MARCH 25
AUD. C, ANGELL HALL-8:0 P.M.
"The United Monarchy &
Its Effect on the Hebrew Language"
TUESDAY, MARCH 26
NATURAL SCIENCE AUD.-4:10 P.M.
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