This paper looks to provide a reading of Edith Södergran’s only poem written in Russian in its literary, linguistic, cultural and historical contexts. Composed when she was experimenting with multilingual poetry for her so-called Vaxdukshäft (Oilcloth Notebook), the poem “Tikho, tikho, tikho” reflects equally an adherence to classical Russian metrical forms and a kinship with the more daring Russian Symbolists, including A.Blok and V.Bryusov. In contrast to some previous studies, which see the poem as a mere juvenilia written in the cultural isolation of a young, “foreign” girl’s private milieu, the current article concludes that it was also composed in a spirit of the age and the nation. The poem’s varied and stunning imagery, ranging from violence to mystery, speaks of a labyrinth of emotion, inner experiences and political and social awareness. Although the dominant images of destruction, bloodshed and rebirth may have their origins in Södergran’s personal encounters with tuberculosis, they do so also in the disparate contexts of a society racked by terrorism and violent revolution, and of a young woman’s emerging self-identity. Thus, when examined in the broader context of Södergran’s awareness of the literary and cultural mores, and the political upheavals of her times, the poem reflects both her natural poetic talent and her sophisticated vision of the surrounding world, remarkable at such an early stage of her writing career.
Crnković Denis. ON THE CONTEXTS OF EDITH SÖDERGRAN’S RUSSIAN POEM “TIKHO, TIKHO, TIKHO”