The Names of Poets in Georgij Ivanov's Poetry

Abstract

GEORGIJ IVANOV THE EMIGRANT POE'r was born in 1894 in Russia and died in France in 1958. He is one of the most modern Russian poets, and the use of the names of poets represents one of the modern aspects in his poetry. Whether his reference to past masters is or parody, their names appear predominantly as objects of his new technique. As a result, the traditional terms homage and parody themselves become ambiguous. Unlike the traditional Russian poets or even some contemporary poets, Ivanov does not address or invoke his great predecessors, as for example, Puskin frequently does (To Zukovskij: Bless me, oh poet! To Baratynskij: Every line of your story, etc.). In the more recent period the Symbolist poet Alexandr Blok uses names much less frequently, and his references are limited almost exclusively to the names of the Symbolist period (Anna Axmatova, Valerij Brjusov, Vjaeeslav Ivanov). The contemporary poet Evtusenko recently published one of his poems in the form of an epistle under the title Letter to Esenin (Pis'mo Eseninu). In Ivanov's last book 1943-1958. Stixi (1943-1958. Poems) with which this study is concerned, the poems carry no titles at all.l Names of poets appear in Ivanov's poetry in four different contexts: first, to identify epigraphs; second, as non-textual dedications; third, as epithets; and fourth, predominantly as rich verbal material necessary to the structure of the poem. These latter names are frequently accompanied by some additional elements of the poetic world of a given poet. Examples of these are hidden citations, paraphrases, or poetic themes. This group is the largest, the most interesting, and deserves closer study.