condemns the Vietnam War, and deplores the
situation in Northern Ireland. His criticism is
not limited to the West, however. A popular
and privileged poet whose readings at one time
filled football stadiums and who was given
unprecedented freedom to travel abroad, he
nevertheless warned against abuses at home, cas-
tigating militarists, dishonest bureaucrats, and
toadies of all kinds. These critical poems range
from ‘‘The Heirs of Stalin’’ and ‘‘Babi Yar’’ in the
early 1960s to ‘‘Momma and the Neutron
Bomb’’ and poems about the dissident Andrei
Sakharov and the Afghanistan war in the 1980s.
The roots of his ferocious morality are to be
found in his love for Russia, and in his stubborn
belief in the ideals of the revolution.
Even the semiofficial poet was not immune
from censorship, however. Included in the new
collection are a number of poems that were writ-
ten during the sixties but for political reasons
could not be published until many years later.
Among them are verses to fellow poets Tsve-
taeva (1967/1987) and Esenin (1965/1988),
‘‘Russian Tanks in Prague’’ (1968/1990), and
‘‘The Ballad of the Big Stamp,’’ a bawdy tale
about castration for the good of the party
(1966/1989).
Yevtushenko is at his best when he is specific
and detailed, and this happens most frequently
in poems dealing with his native Siberia, its
nature and history, its sailors, whalers, berry
pickers. These include the long poem ‘‘Zima
Junction’’ (1955) and a series written in 1964
about life on the northern frontier. Yevtushenko
has a strong visual sense (he is an accomplished
photographer), and color often plays an impor-
tant role in his works. In the fairy-tale-like
‘‘Snow in Tokyo: A Japanese Poem’’ (1974), for
example, a proper and repressed Japanese
matron discovers the wonders of painting and
finds the courage to rebel against her stultifying
life through the world of color.
A thread running through Yevtushenko’s
work is the importance of poetry and the respon-
sibility of the poet to mankind. He constantly
questions his own talent and mission, thus con-
tinuing the Russian tradition of meta-poetry.
Likewise very Russian is the dialogue between
writers living and dead that Yevtushenko carries
on, in poems addressed to or evoking Pushkin,
Pasternak, Neruda, and Jack London, along
with numerous others.
Finally, Yevtushenko’s poetry is a kind of
personal diary which details his extensive travels
and especially his many love affairs and mar-
riages. Remarkable love poems follow the poet
from first love, to the birth of his sons, to the
sadness of falling out of love again. The poems
contain a rich fabric of quarrels, memories, fare-
wells, even a conversation with his dog, who
shares the poet’s grief that his woman has gone.
Perhaps the most attractive thing about Yev-
tushenko is his human breadth, his willingness
to lay himself open to our reactions.The Col-
lected Poemsprovides the reader with numerous
opportunities to become acquainted with this
engaged and engaging poet, one of the impor-
tant, questioning voices of our age.
Source:Patricia Pollock Brodsky, Review ofThe Col-
lected Poems 1952–1990,inWorld Literature Today,
Vol. 66, No. 1, Winter 1992, pp. 156–57.Tomas Venclova
In the following appraisal of Yevtushenko’s poetry,
Venclova calls ‘‘Babii Yar’’ the ‘‘high point of Yev-
tushenko’s personal and political career.’’
An interesting article by Yevgeny Yevtush-
enko, part essay, part memoir, recently appeared
inLiteraturnaya Gazetain Moscow, in which the
poet dwells at length on his skirmishes with
Soviet reactionaries. The title of the article is
‘‘Fencing with a Pile of Dung,’’ which is meant
to be a bold metaphor. Among other tales, Yev-
tushenko tells the story of his visit to the pre-
perestroika Kremlin, where he was to be hon-
ored with the Order of the Red Banner:
The Order was presented by a vice-chairman of
the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, an Azer-
baijani whose last name I cannot, for the life of
me, recall. Pinning the order to the lapel of my
jacket and inviting me to a hunting party in
Azerbaijan, he awkwardly pierced my jacket,
my shirt, and even pricked me. It was rather
painful. The Kremlin people hurt me often
enough. They hurt others, too.‘BABII YAR’ (1961) TREATED ANTI-SEMITIC
TENDENCIES IN RUSSIAN LIFE, AND PROVOKED A
RABID REACTION IN FASCIST AND FASCISTOID CIR-
CLES.’’Babii Yar