Tag Bryusov

“Those intangible songs”

Jethro Bithell wrote in Contemporary French Poetry (1912): That poem is worth more than all the commentaries on symbolism. “Le chanson grise” (whether it means “gray song,” as some of my friends say, or “drunken song,” as others say —…

Poets as players 2

More from Khodasevich’s 1924 memoir on Bryusov quoted in the previous post. Card players inadvertently reveal their deeper selves to discerning eyes: I have played cards a lot in my day; I have seen many players, both occasional and professional. I believe that…

Poets as players

Language Hat has a post on the card game played by Grandma Lausch and her Hungarian friend Mr. Kreindl in The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow. It’s called klabyash in the book while clobyosh seems to be the…

Who shall surpass me?

Motherland I hate; I love the ideal of Man. That’s Valery Bryusov, 1896. Students of Russian poetry who focus on three to five names in the 20th century may not realize how much Bryusov (from Bruce, like the kings of…