Understanding the Silver Age of Russian Poetry

Alexandra Guzeva discusses the Silver Age of Russian poetry—"an artistic period that dates from the very late 19th century and ends in the 1920s"—at Russia Beyond. "What makes the Silver Age different [from the Golden Age]?" Well:

After several decades of realism and naturalism in literature, people got a little tired and started looking for new ways to express feelings, new images, poetic means and metaphors. Reflecting reality became a craft, but meanwhile, genuine artists were inventing symbols and reflecting on things that don’t exist in the real world but rather in people’s minds and dreams. While this sounds quite normal today, in those times it was revolutionary. 

Another interesting feature about the Silver Age is that this era combines very different poets. They started to gather together, to create manifestos for their movements, to discuss poetic tools and even to have poetic cabarets where they read their poems and arranged literary duels. Most of these poets were respectful to past literature, they played with antique and Golden Age images and poets, and they left hints and allusions to other poets between the lines. That’s why reading and trying to understand Silver Age poetry now is a challenging task - it has several levels of meanings.  

Of course, the Silver Age witnessed the 1905 Revolution and the 1917 Revolution. These events couldn’t stay separate from their art: the poets rethought, reconsidered and reinterpreted these events with their artistic talents - and one of the most vivid examples is Alexander Blok’s poem “The Twelve” where he adds an image of Jesus Christ.…

Find the full exploration at Russia Beyond.