Memory and Poetry

• In Event: Exploring Slavic Poetry and Linguistic Diversity

Abstract

The license plates on cars in Québec, Canada, bear the motto “Je me souviens,”and only
in French. Turns out there is no actual or single explanation of what exactly Québecois
remember. At least officially: the official explanation is they remember general Québec
history.
Memory is a common device in literature and poetry, and it can serve many purposes.
This paper hopes to analyze the workings of memory in Russian poetry (and possibly
French poetry). Many poems simply offer a window into past personal experience and
poetic autobiography; some clothe memories, especially of past or lost loves, in a warm
glow of nostalgia. But memory may also serve “higher” functions, illustrating creativity
and processing history, especially historical trauma. The most recent relevant examples
are the poems and collections dedicated to the Russian attack on Ukraine.
While some such recent poems will be invoked, most of my examples come from earlier
poetry, (and not just poems entitled “Воспоминание”...) We’ll include Akhmatova’s
"Памяти 19-гo июля 1914" " Bergolts, "Из блокнота 41-го года" - Blok, "Рожденные в
года глухие" – and references from Mandelstam to Parnok. French poets considered
might include Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, Eluard, Samain, Lamartine and
Baudelaire.

Author

• Francoise Jeannine Rosset, Wheaton College