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The Poet of Thought in "Vse mysel 'da mysl'": Truth in Boratynskij's Poetry Dora Burton Arizona State University In Boratynskij's early and well-known poem "Bogdanovicu" (To Bogdanovic, 1824) the poet, at the zenith of his fame, enthusiastically announces his readiness to sacrifice the beauty of his verse for truth: "V zamenu krasoty, daju stixam moim / Ja silu istiny" (I give the power of truth, in place of beauty, to my verse).1 A few years later, in 1827, a less famous but more mature and confident poet alters his lines to underscore not only the likelihood of the perfect harmony of truth and beauty, but to indicate further that the essence of beauty is truth itself: "Ja pravdy krasotu daj u stixam moim" (I give to my verse the beauty of truth). In his other early poem, "Istina" (Truth, 1823), truth itself is not rejected by the melancholy singer in his search for happiness; only her offer to initiate him at the time (or in his youth) into her frightful and dismaying "code" of life is refused. She is asked to return, but to postpone her coming. And she appears, fourteen years later, in "Osen"' (Autumn, 1837). This most majestic yet personal and poignant of Boratynskij's lyrics acknowledges the dedication of the poet to the profound truth of man's existence. The truth of the poet's life in "Osen"' lies exposed: his lifelong effort is rejected, yet he cannot sacrifice the wholeness, the integrity of his poetic message, for his own recognition or acceptance. The poet in "Osen'," in envisioning his own poetic doom, proclaims that such is the fate of the poet who refuses to follow the "common path" and thus to become the" "oracle " of trivial revelations (nositel' obscix dum). Boratynskij's poet is irrevocably concerned with truth. Significantly, the imagery central to some of Boratynskij's major works, which identifies the intellectual intensity and depth of the poet's perception, is epitomized by the phrase "bez pokrova" (without a veil, or cover). Thus, in one of his magnificent philosophical poems, "Poslednjaja smert"' (The Last Death, 1827), the lyrical persona, in his enraptured imagination, perceives a world not visible to others — "the lastfate ofall the living." The imagery of this poem foreshadows his philosophical lyric of his later period 1. This poem is published in its revised versions of 1827 or 1835. For the 1824 version see notes in Poinoe sobrante socinenij E. A. Boratynskogo. Pod redakciej i s primecanijami M. L. Gofmana (St. Petersburg: AN, 1914), I, p. 247. 32ROCKY MOUNTAIN REVIEW "Vse mysl' da mysl'! . . . (Thought, nothing but thought! . . ., 1840). Significantly the tone of his later poem differs strikingly from that of "Poslednjaja smert'." The poet in the earlier work remains somewhat philosophically detached from his own apocalyptic intellectual conclusion concerning death of civilization. Its measured tone and majestic imagery reveal a certain lack of personal involvement : the poet steps aside to view the deeds of humanity that led to its own ruin. Although this is primarily a literary device — the poet is the narrator of this epic, a purveyor of the vision, a judge and not a participant — the tone of Boratynskij's late philosophical lyrics unmistakably reveals the emotional exposure of the poet to his own vision. "Vse mysl' da mysl'!. . ." acutely reflects the poet's magnified perception and resultant pain; the poem's interpretation bears directly on the recognition of the poet's response to his poetic destiny. This poem provokes various responses from critics. Some see it as Boratynskij's pessimistic complaint "of the tyranny of thought over the 'wretched artist in words,' as opposed to painters, sculptors and musicians."2 Others, referring to the "energy of thought," see a "deadening perplexity" as a result of thought's action, leaving the poet "helpless and transfixed, as before a 'bared sword,' which takes from living all its spontaneity and pleasure." Hence this interpretation has the poet "wishing to escape from this work of his own mind."3 Predictably, some see it as the poet's "envy" toward the artist of the other, less demanding or, perhaps, more merciful arts, or the envy of the poet-intellectual toward the...

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