read slowly: a magazine about poetry and classic prose

Philosofiya

An independent magazine about reading poetry and classic prose. We do not publish the texts of literary works and are not connected with the former site on this domain.

History

A short history

You could fill volumes with the history of Russian verse, but a reader needs only a few landmarks to get started. This page collects verified dates only: the life dates of four classic poets whose names Russian readers know from school, and the years connected with the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. Everything else, such as how the sound, meters and intonation of verse changed, is described in general terms, without extra names or quotations.

Dates aren't there for an exam. They tell you which era a poem is talking to.

— From the editors

Timeline

  1. 1799

    Alexander Pushkin (1799–1837) is born. For generations of readers, his poetry and prose have been the starting point for getting to know the Russian classics.

  2. 1811

    The Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum opens on 19 October 1811. Pushkin is among its very first students, and the opening day later becomes a cherished anniversary for Lyceum alumni.

  3. 1814

    Mikhail Lermontov (1814–1841) is born. His short life fell in a period when Russian lyric poetry was rapidly gaining strength and depth.

  4. 1817

    The Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum graduates its first class. Pushkin completes the course with his classmates from the first intake, having studied there since 1811.

  5. 1880

    Alexander Blok (1880–1921) is born. His poems are often used to show the particular musicality of Russian verse.

  6. 1895

    Sergei Yesenin (1895–1925) is born. His lyric poetry is close to song and to the rural landscape, and people still love to read it aloud.

How Russian verse changed

Russian poetry spent a long time searching for its own sound. The accentual-syllabic system that today's readers are used to is based on alternating stressed and unstressed syllables. Once you hear that pattern, a line starts to sound like music with a clear beat.

The two-syllable meters, iamb and trochee, long ago became the most familiar. Iamb sounds like calm speech rising toward the stress; trochee sounds like a song or a counting rhyme, with the stress at the start of each foot. The three-syllable meters, dactyl, amphibrach and anapest, give a broader, swaying stride and are often chosen for storytelling and for verse that leans toward song.

In Pushkin and Lermontov you can see how flexibly a classical meter follows thought and intonation. In Blok the verse becomes especially musical: stresses sometimes shift, and the line sounds freer than a strict scheme would allow. In Yesenin the poem reaches toward song and toward lively everyday speech.

For slow reading, this history boils down to a simple rule: before you judge a poem, listen to its meter. It suggests the pace, the mood and how the poet wanted to be read. English poetry also runs on stressed and unstressed syllables, so the same habit carries over to poems in your own language.

  • Close reading

    Six questions worth asking a poem and a table of the five main metrical feet.

  • People

    The classic poet as an example, the annotator, the translator, the reciter, the librarian and the fellow reader: who helps a text reach you.

  • The Lyceum (in Russian)

    A note at an archived address: the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, Lyceum Day and poems that grew out of friendship.

  • Articles

    The magazine's six topics, from meter and rhythm to legal ways to find a text, plus the catalogue of English-language articles.

  • Archive

    The magazine's table of contents and where the old addresses on this domain now lead.

Sources

  • Encyclopedic sources on Russian poets
  • Encyclopedic sources on the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum
  • Reference works on verse theory
  • Philosofiya editorial materials

The poets' life dates and the facts about the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum come from reference sources; everything else is described in general terms, without reference to any particular edition. Check with the organizers for the times of poetry evenings, lectures and reading-room hours.