Published as if an appendix to Pasternak’s novel, Dr. Zhivago, these poems highlight the novel’s theme of suffering and may serve as the key to understanding the work as a whole. Several poems contain explicitly Christian images: even “Hamlet,” the first one, shows the speaker suffering as Christ did when he faced crucifixion.

The speaker could be Hamlet himself, about to move from the comfort of his own thoughts into public view, where he continues his charade of ignorance about his uncle’s crime and of madness. On the other hand, the speaker could be the actor playing Hamlet, waiting to reenter the play and act his part.

Some suggest the speaker is the figure of the Poet, an embodiment of Vladimir Mayakovsky, who saw the poet on center stage in life, or an image of Aleksandr Blok, whom Pasternak admired as a force of nature channeling energy into verse.

Although each poem can be read separately, each has a meaningful place in the collection. The cycle of the poems as a whole begins with “Hamlet” and ends with “The Garden of Gethsemane.” The former alludes to Christ’s prayer and trial, while the latter is a reflection on Christ in prayer before the Passion. Both poems hint that the speaker’s suffering is both inevitable and chosen.

The overtly religious poems have a cyclical structure that parallels their placement in the calendar year but also suggests the festal cycle of the liturgical year, which is measured from Easter to Easter. The birth of Christ and the events of the Passion are inseparable from the resurrection, the source of hope. Similarly, the raising of Lazarus and the triumph of Palm Sunday are connected integrally to the humiliation and humility of the trial and Passion of Jesus.

The verses as a whole also follow a seasonal cycle from spring to spring, traditionally a time of hope. “March,” the second poem in the collection, celebrates the awakening of life and hope in the spring, while “August,” the 14th, accepts the loss of beauty as well as the departure of the speaker’s lover. The allusion to the Transfiguration as a prefiguring of the Passion further reinforces the theme of inevitable suffering. The seasonal cycle underscores the nature imagery abundant in Pasternak’s work.

Bibliography

Gifford, Henry. Pasternak: A Critical Study. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977.
Moreau, Jean-Luc. “The Passion According to Zhivago.” Translated by Constance Wagner. Books Abroad 44 (1970): 237–242.
Pasternak, Boris. The Poems of Dr. Zhivago. Translated by Donald Davie. Manchester, U.K.: Manchester University Press, 1965.
Rudova, Larissa. Understanding Boris Pasternak. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1997.

Categories: Literature, Russian Literature, World Literature

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