beat the people
Byron “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage”
The hero of Byron’s poem Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage is a young aristocrat, full of pleasure and disappointed in life. Leaving the “father’s house”, his “ancient castle”, Harold sits on the ship and says goodbye to his homeland. The agitated lines of “Farewell” convey the senses of the poet himself, who, like his hero, left England without regret with extraordinary force:
With you, ship, in a far light
I will rush under the storm howl …
Where? – there is no concern, Continue reading
Akhmatova and Tsvetaeva – Comparison
Probably in the distant future and for our era will find an elegant synthesis. Contradictions will become dull, contrasts will be extinguished, variegation will be reduced to unity, and a “consonant chorus” will turn out from discord. The future scientist, fascinated by harmony, will brilliantly show the “uniform style” of our time. But what a pity for our disagreement, our living diversity, even our absurdity. And no “idea” will reconcile us with the transformation into masks of those persons whom we knew and loved. Continue reading
Afanasy Nikitin “Going beyond three seas”
“Going beyond the three seas of Afanasy Nikitin” (see its full text) – a description by a 15th century Russian man of his journey to far India.Afanasy Nikitin was a Tver merchant. In 1466, he joined the embassy of Grand Duke Ivan III, who was traveling to Azerbaijani Shemakha. Nikitin went to Shamakhi for commercial purposes, but on the way he was robbed by the Tatars, who took everything from him, even the Bible, which, as a very religious man, he never parted. Then he decided to try his luck and continue to trade: he did not want to return home empty-handed. So he made his trip “for three seas” (the Caspian, Black and Indian), and got by dry road to India before the famous navigator Vasco da Gama. Continue reading
