Silence (Balmont)

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Silence
Balmont's Silence 1898 cover.jpg
Author Konstantin Balmont
Original titleТишина. Лирические поэмы
Country Russian Empire
Language Russian
Genre Russian Symbolism
Publication date
 1898
Media type print (Hardback & Paperback)
Preceded by In Boundlessness
Followed by Burning Buildings

Silence (Russian : Тишина, translit.  Tishina, subtitled "Lyric poems", Лирические поэмы) is a third poetry collection by Konstantin Balmont, first published in August 1898 in Saint Petersburg, by Alexey Suvorin's Publishing House. Following In Boundlessness (1895), it features 77 poems, most of which were based upon the author's impressions of his 1896-1897 European journey which took him to Germany, France, Italy and Great Britain, where he read Russian poetry in Oxford. The book's epigraph, "There is some kind of universal hour of silence" (Есть некий час всемирного молчанья) comes from Fyodor Tyutchev's poem "Videniye" (The Vision, Видение). [1] [2]

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The book, divided into several cycles, was constructed as if it were a musical composition, poems linked both rhythms and inner associations. It bore the first marks of Nietzschean motifs and heroes, notably the "Elemental Genius," who transcends his own humanity in order to break free from all restrictions. Silence was praised by Prince Alexander Urusov who recognized it as a work of a great talent who was beginning to forge his very own, distinctive style in poetry. [3]

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References

  1. 1 2 "Commentaries to the Colected Works of K.D. Balmomt // Бальмонт К. Д. Избранное." www.prosv.ru. Archived from the original on 2011-08-18. Retrieved 2010-08-13.
  2. ↑ Vengerov, Semyon. "Konstantin Dmitriyevich Balmont". Brockhaus and Efron / Russian Biographical Dictionary. Archived from the original on August 18, 2011. Retrieved 2010-06-01.
  3. ↑ Makogonenko, Darya. The Life and Fate. Freface to The Selected Poems, Translations and Essays by K.D. Balmont. Pravda Publishers. 1990. // Д. Г. Макогоненко. — Жизнь и судьба. Бальмонт К. — Избранное: Стихотворения. Переводы. Статьи. — М. Правда, 1990. — ISBN   5-253-00115-8
  4. ↑ Прежде чем душа найдет возможность постигать и дерзнет припоминать, она должна соединиться с Безмолвным Глаголом, — и тогда для внутреннего слуха будет говорить Голос Молчания.
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