now contemplates the self-destruction of pere-
stroika may well hear in Yevtushenko’s words
the feelings of Gorbachev himself. Bulldogs and
crocodiles indeed!
On the other hand, it’s tempting to simply
say of Yevtushenko’s collected poems, ‘‘how
they embody the supreme insolence!’’ For all
his clarity, Yevtushenko does not seem to antici-
pate certain cruel ironies. He writes ‘‘To Incom-
prehensible Poets,’’ and confesses, ‘‘My guilt is in
my simplicity. / My crime is my clarity. / I am the
most comprehensible of worms,’’ he may not
hear his audiences silently agreeing. When he
says to the incomprehensible poets (he has in
mind some of the main lines of modern Russian
poetry), ‘‘No restraint frightens you. / No one
has bridled you with clear ideas.’’ But he may not
realize that the kinds of ‘‘restraint’’ he accepts as
a public poet are child’s play compared with the
restraints accepted by Pasternak and Joseph
Brodsky, restraints that originate in the subtlety
of their analysis and the purity of their taste.
Finally, when he says, ‘‘All the same it is fright-
ening / to be understood like me / in the wrong
way, / all of my life / to write comprehensibly /
and depart / so hopelessly uncomprehended,’’
one cannot be too sympathetic.
Long ago he stuck up for the Jews and
recited his poem ‘‘Babii Yar’’ one too many
times. Khrushchev exploded at him. This was
the turning point of his career and his life. He
knew what mattered most to him. He wanted a
role in society; he wanted to be accepted as a
poet.
In his own eyes, on his own terms, Yevtush-
enko has been highly successful. If he does not go
down as a great Russian poet, it’s because choos-
ing to be what he has become meant he could not
travel the higher road of art.
Source:Thomas D’Evelyn, ‘‘A Soviet Whitman,’’ in
Christian Science Monitor, March 8, 1991, p. 10.
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