Marina Tsvetaeva

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Voicing your beliefs

• Marina Tsvetaeva
• from Poems to Czechoslovakia

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Marina Tsvetaeva

• A Russian national Born 1892 Died 1941
• She had a priveleged and culturally rich
  upbringing. Her father was a professor and
  curator and her mother a concert pianist. They
  lived all over Europe and she went to school in
  Switzerland and Germany.
• A very important 20th century Soviet poet
• Lived through imprtant historic and personal
  events
• Russian Revolution of 1917
• Moscow famine and death of her daughter
• Exile from Russia
• Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia
• Return to Stalins Russia
• Arrested for espionage and husband shot
• Committed Suicide

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What was she like?

• ''I refuse to be. In the madhouse of the inhuman
  I refuse to live. With the wolves of the market
  place I refuse to howl ...''

• Tsvetaeva was an outspoken and passionate poet.
  She tried to draw attention to political and
  social problems in Russia and Europe. This often
  got her in trouble.
• She was imprisoned by Stalins government for
  spying, despite being innocent. As a lyrical
  poet, she is also famous for exploring the depths
  of human experiences.

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Forgiven, and not forgotten
And soon all of us will sleep under the earth,
we who never let each other sleep above it.

• After Stalins death in 1956, Tsvetaeva and her
  husband were exonerated.
• Russians now celebrate her work.
• Her quest for truth and honesty in her work
  continues to inspire her readers today.

USSR stamp featuring Tsvetaeva (1992)
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Czechoslovakia
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The Nazis take Czechoslovakia

• Following the Anschluss of Austria to Nazi
  Germany, in March 1938, the conquest of
  Czechoslovakia became Hitler's next ambition.
• The incorporation of the Sudetenland into Nazi
  Germany left the rest of Czechoslovakia weak and
  it became powerless to resist subsequent
  occupation.
• On 16 March 1939, the German Wehrmacht moved into
  the remainder of Czechoslovakia and, from Prague
  Castle, Hitler proclaimed Bohemia and Moravia the
  Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.
• The occupation ended with the surrender of
  Germany following World War II.
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_occupation_of_
  Czechoslovakia

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Video

• Hitler plans to invade Czech
• Eye-witness account

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The Occupation

• The effect of the occupation on Czech citizens
  can still be felt today.
• Read through the extract from a blog belonging to
  a Prague walking tour company.
• What similarities can you see between the
  experience described in the poem and in the blog?
• - Discuss with a partner

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Tsvetaeva and Czechoslovakia

• Tsvetaeva mourned the invasion of Czechoslovakia
  and the loss of the Sudetenland, as though it
  were a close friend.

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A Different Translation

• They tooksuddenlyand tookopenly
• took mountainsand took their entrails,
• they took coal, and steel they took,
• they took lead, and crystal.
• And sugar they took, and took the clover,
• they took the West, and they took the North,
• they took the beehive, and took the haystack,
• they took the South from us, and the East.
• Varithey took, and the Tatrasthey took,
• they took our fingerstook our friends
• But we stand up
• as long as theres spit in our mouths!
• May 9, 1939

Write down the differences between this
translation and the one in your book.
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Questions

1. Discuss the voice in this poem.
2. What kind of imagery and symbolism does the poet
   use? How does it shape meaning?
3. How does she create tone and mood in this poem?
4. Compare her reaction to the war to another poem
   of your choice.

Write at least a paragraph for each answer.
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Finally

• Another poem from Tsvetaveva