Marina Tsvetaeva

Marina Tsvetaeva

Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva (Russian: Мари́на Ива́новна Цвета́ева; ; 8 October 1892 – 31 August 1941) was a Russian and Soviet poet. Her work is considered among some of the greatest in twentieth century Russian literature. She lived through and wrote of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the Moscow famine that followed it. In an attempt to save her daughter Irina from starvation, she placed her in a state orphanage in 1919, where she died of hunger. Tsvetaeva left Russia in 1922 and lived with her family in increasing poverty in Paris, Berlin and Prague before returning to Moscow in 1939. Her husband Sergei Efron and her daughter Ariadna Efron (Alya) were arrested on espionage charges in 1941; and her husband was executed. Tsvetaeva committed suicide in 1941. As a lyrical poet, her passion and daring linguistic experimentation mark her as a striking chronicler of her times and the depths of the human condition.

Read more about Marina Tsvetaeva:  Early Years, Family and Career, Last Years: Return To The Soviet Union, Work, Books of Tsvetaeva Poetry in English Translation, Further Reading

Famous quotes by marina tsvetaeva:

    My desk, most loyal friend
    thank you. You’ve been with me on
    every road I’ve taken.
    My scar and my protection.
    Marina Tsvetaeva (1892–1941)

    There are books so alive that you’re always afraid that while you weren’t reading, the book has gone and changed, has shifted like a river; while you went on living, it went on living too, and like a river moved on and moved away. No one has stepped twice into the same river. But did anyone ever step twice into the same book?
    Marina Tsvetaeva (1892–1941)

    I refuse to be. In
    the madhouse of the inhuman
    I refuse to live.
    With the wolves of the market place
    I refuse to howl ...
    Marina Tsvetaeva (1892–1941)