The Russian symbolist poets were a collection of artists who drew on deep feelings of mysticism when they gave form to the thoughts and visions that the Muse inspired in them. They felt themselves to be a link between the people (the Russian narod) and a higher spiritual realm.
One of the earlier symbolists, Vladimir Solovev, created an entire spiritual belief system based on the worship of the Eternal Feminine. This being was the Muse from whom inspiration came, she was Nature, and her intellect and beauty became tangible in women on the temporal plane. Two younger poets, Aleksandr Blok and Andrei Bely, were entranced by Solovev's mysticism.
Vladimir Solovev (1853-1990) was integral to the growth of Symbolism in Russia. He was a philosopher, historian, theologist, and poet. He identified the Eternal Feminine that he worshipped as Sophia, the Divine Wisdom. Solovev expresses his closeness to his Muse when surrounded by the beauty of nature in his poem The Sound of A Distant Waterfall...
Translations of Blok's poems: To the Muse The Stranger
Andrei Belyi
The early poetry of Andrei Belyi (1880-1934) was also influenced by the mysticism of Vladimir Solovev. He saw the sunset sky as a shimmering curtain between this world and the spiritual realm. Like many of his contemporaries, he incorporated the stories of classical mythology into his poetry. In Belyi's cycle of poems, Gold in Azure, Jason and the Argonauts are sailing to the other side of the setting sun in quest of the golden fleece.
Bely also introduces the figure of the harelquin into this poetic cycle. The harlequin is the sinister trickster clown from the Italian theatrical tradition of the Commedia dell'arte, which fascinated many poets and playwrites of the early 20th century in Russia. Belyi's good friend, Aleksandr Blok, wrote a play called The Fairground Booth which starred the Commedia caste of Harlequin, Pierrot, and Columbine (the woman who always comes between them). Some critics choose to see the play as a reflection of the relationship between Blok, Belyi, and Blok's wife. Blok may have caste himself in the role of Pierrot, the sad clown. His wife, Columbine, is in love with Harlequin, who may represent Blok's good friend, Belyi, in this case.
Belyi's portrays the harlequin in Eternal Call, which is a small peotic cycle within Gold in Azure. His image of the harlequin is quite disturbing. Belyi's harlequin is a false Christ preaching the approaching end to the masses. At the beginning of the third verse, in the second poem of Eternal Call, the crowd which has gathered around the narrator laughs "at the insanely-funny false-Christ." The crushing mob of people, the street lamps, the cabs, the "soundless rush of rubber tires" that surround the harlequin all create a harshly prosaic atmosphere which seems foreign to Belyi's verse in "Zoloto v lazuri". The symbolists could express both mystical visions and harsh reality in their verses.
Translations of Belyi's poems:
Selections from Gold in Azure
The Golden Fleece and Sunsets
Links to other symbolist poets:
