Osip Mandelstam: Poems chosen and translated by James Greene

New Directions Poetry Pamphlet #16

by Osip Mandelstam (Translator), James Greene (Translator), Nadezhda Mandelstam (Foreword)

Peter France writes in his foreword: “I have always been conscious that Mandelstam was an outstanding figure, arguably the outstanding Russian poet of the twentieth century. This is a personal selection from the poetry — poems that for one reason or another I wanted to translate. I have tried to make it reasonably representative of different strands and periods in his work, with a certain stress on the brilliant and fragmentary Voronezh poems.”

Genres: Poetry, Russia

80 pages, Paperback

First published October 12, 1978

About the author

Osip Emilyevich Mandelstam (also spelled Osip Mandelshtam, Ossip Mandelstamm) (Russian: Осип Эмильевич Мандельштам) was a Russian poet and essayist who lived in Russia during and after its revolution and the rise of the Soviet Union. He was one of the foremost members of the Acmeist school of poets. He was arrested by Joseph Stalin's government during the repression of the 1930s and sent into internal exile with his wife Nadezhda. Given a reprieve of sorts, they moved to Voronezh in southwestern Russia. In 1938 Mandelstam was arrested again and sentenced to a camp in Siberia. He died that year at a transit camp.

Reviews

[Shervin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few really striking lines. Some of the poems don't quite work in English, though I'm sure they're great in the original Russian, and just untranslatable.

Some lines that stood out:

"And I -at odds with the powerful world - rejoice / In the contagion of toboggans"

"I am ready to wander where I will have more sky."

"It's going nowhere, / Which is where I come from. / Miraculous! the breathing plain all ironed, / without a crease. / The sun screws up its eyes in laundered destitution."

"And poor indeed he who, half alive, / Begs favour of a shadow."

"When will silence spread its wings? ... Do you remember... / blackberries in the wood, / ungathered?"

"I've fingered my dishevelled life, like a mullah his Koran."

"What I am saying at this moment is not being said by me / But is dug from the ground like grains of petrified wheat."

"Like a little boy, following the grown-ups into wrinkled water."

"I have accompanied the rapture of the universe / As muted organ pipes / Accompany a woman's voice."

"I was born in the night of January the second & third / In the unreliable year / Of eighteen-ninety something or other, and / The centuries surround me with fire."

"And I, when I am filled with the sea, / My measure is mortality."

[Te Aniwaniwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of course I loved it, dark gloomy beautiful, but it needs to be re-read and re-read and cherished forever

[Peter Rowe]

Idk Didn’t Do too Much For Me

[Classic Bhaer · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is by no means a bad book/collection, but the content of the poems wasn't for me. It tended to reflect upon old stories and myths so I needed to from time to time research a bit and it caused the poems to loose some of their allure. When reading poetry for me personally I like to reflect and think about the possible meanings, this reference of caused a huge disconnect. Also these were originally written in 1910-1930 about so culture and the world is also very different.

Some of the poems are absolutely beautiful and Osip Mandelstam had a way with words. Additionally, Peter France did an amazing job on the translation.

[Colvet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mandelstam is a true legend and this translation was excellently executed. I really enjoy how Mandelstam contrasts the beauty of nature/the Earth with the tribulations and emotions associated with being poor, imprisoned, and even exiled. He lived quite a hard life, but I connect with his poems very much. Especially "To cherish only children's books" from Stone (1913).

[Cooper Renner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Widely accepted as one of the greats, Mandelstam somehow just doesn't quite get to me, most of the time. I suppose I first dipped into him in the '70s, and was trying again with this new translation.