"As they drove through Kamerger Street Yura noticed that a candle had
melted a patch in the icy crust on one of the windows. The light seemed
to look into the street almost consciously, as if it were watching the
passing carriages and waiting for someone.
'A candle burned on the table,a candle burned...' he whispered to
himself-the beginning of something confused,formless; he hoped that it
would take shape of itself, but nothing more came to him."
--Dr. Zhivago
From this formless beginning Pasternak wrote one of his most profound poems: Winter Night. I know of few poems that contain the wealth of human emotions as in Winter Night. How many of us have seen a candle burning in our mind's eye and knew that there was some meaning there, but what? Does it symbolize hope, faith, a sense of something beyond, what?? What does Pasternak's candle mean to you? What does it symbolize in Zhivago?
Winter Night
The snow swept through the land
To the ends of the earth.
On the table a candle,
A Candle was burning.
Like moths in the summer
Attracted by flames,
Crowding and rushing
--snowflakes at the window.
The blizzard had drawn
White circles and arrows.
On the table a candle,
A candle was burning.
Shadows softly mingling
On the luminous ceiling,
Arms and legs intertwining,
Destinies crossing.
Two tiny slippers
Fell to the floor,
And the candle was weeping
Wax tears on her dress.
All swirling in the darkness,
Snowy and grey.
On the table a candle,
A candle was burning.
The candle was almost
Put out by a draft.
The heat of temptation
Raised its wings like an angel.
A February blizzard,
Lasting a month.
On the table a candle,
A candle was burning.
2 comments:
Sue, I am originally one of those persons who thinks he will not stay alive if he does not read a good poem or receive a letter from a good friend one day. Here you have given them both to me. Thanks for sharing the joys of your literary and thoughtful moments with us. The poem is very beautiful. Let me send you another translation.
Winter Night
It snowed and snowed ,the whole world over,
Snow swept the world from end to end.
A candle burned on the table;
A candle burned.
As during summer midges swarm
To beat their wings against a flame
Out in the yard the snowflakes swarmed
To beat against the window pane
The blizzard sculptured on the glass
Designs of arrows and of whorls.
A candle burned on the table;
A candle burned.
Distorted shadows fell
Upon the lighted ceiling:
Shadows of crossed arms,of crossed legs-
Of crossed destiny.
Two tiny shoes fell to the floor
And thudded.
A candle on a nightstand shed wax tears
Upon a dress.
All things vanished within
The snowy murk-white,hoary.
A candle burned on the table;
A candle burned.
A corner draft fluttered the flame
And the white fever of temptation
Upswept its angel wings that cast
A cruciform shadow
It snowed hard throughout the month
Of February, and almost constantly
A candle burned on the table;
A candle burned.
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