Tales of Marshak– this is a special world that cannot be forgotten or confused with anything. After all, every story told is not only a syllable, rhythm and a story that is difficult to break away from, but also an image, morality, justice that we take away from them. How can one not sympathize with the absent-minded one from Basseynaya Street or not admire the kindness and responsiveness of the little kittens from the Cat House, or forget about what happened to the little mouse because of his pickiness and capriciousness, and the New Year's meeting with twelve months will always occupy a special place in the soul of everyone who has ever read or listened to this fairy tale. All these images are so vivid and vivid that the memory of them remains forever in our hearts. Read Marshak's tales online you can on this page of the site.
Samuel Marshak was the first writer in a very long time who worked primarily for children, and he carried this love for real, living, vibrant and high-quality children's literature throughout his life. Each of us gets acquainted with the fairy tales and poems of this author from a very early age, and his bright characters and images, despite the fact that they are created for young children, do not tolerate lies and slickness. And this honesty creates the trust that remains forever between the author and his readers.
Genius Samuel Marshak
You can almost endlessly tell and describe the many stories that came from the pen of Samuil Marshak, but the best and most knowable way will be only one way: you must discover this world for yourself, see the created reality for children. And such a world could only be created by a person who did not close the doors of his childhood. Because he understands, values and gives children exactly what they not only want to read and hear, but what they really need to understand, what they need to learn and what they should never forget, and all this is presented in such a way that that it is virtually impossible to tear yourself away from these books. We provide you with the opportunity to read Marshak’s fairy tales directly on the pages of our website online.
Read the tales of Samuil Marshak- this is one of the pillars in raising your children, and passing by it is akin to committing an unforgivable crime against your beloved child. For this reason, do not refuse not only your child, but also yourself, to miss these extraordinary and mind-blowing works.
Old Grandpa Kohl
There was a cheerful king.
He shouted loudly to his retinue:
Hey, pour us some cups,
Fill our pipes,
Yes, call my violinists, trumpeters,
Call my violinists!
There were violins in the hands of his violinists,
All the trumpeters had trumpets,
Between the swamps from a small well
The stream flows without stopping.
An inconspicuous clean stream,
Not wide, not bell, not deep.
You will cross it over the plank,
And look - the stream spilled into a river,
At least ford this river in some places
And the chicken will move on in the summer.
But the springs and streams water it,
And snow and showers of summer thunderstorms,
Works are divided into pagesSince childhood, each of us remembers cute fairy tales for children about the “absent-minded one from Basseynaya Street” or a funny story about a woman who “checked in a sofa, a cardigan, a suitcase as luggage...”. You can ask any person WHO wrote these extraordinary works, and everyone, without thinking for a second, will blurt out: this poems by Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak.
Samuel Yakovlevich Marshak created a huge number of poems for children. Throughout his life he was a good friend to children. All his poems lovingly teach children to enjoy the beauty of the poetic word. With his children's fairy tales, Marshak easily paints colorful pictures of the world around him., tells interesting and educational stories, and also teaches to dream about the distant future. Samuil Yakovlevich tries to write children's poems at a very early age. At the age of 12 he began to write entire poems. The writer’s very first collections of poems for children began to appear more than seventy-five years ago. We get acquainted with Marshak's children's fairy tales quite early. When we were very young children, we listened with extraordinary pleasure, watched and read by heart his children's fairy tales: “The Mustachioed and Striped One,” “Children in a Cage.” A famous poet and professional translator, playwright and teacher, and, among other things, an editor - this is the enormous creative baggage of Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak, read poetry which is simply necessary.
WORKS FOR CHILDREN.
FAIRY TALES. SONGS. PUZZLES.
A FUN JOURNEY FROM A TO Z.
POEMS OF DIFFERENT YEARS.
STORIES IN VERSE
Preparation of the text and notes by V. I. Leibson
* ABOUT ME *
(Autobiography-preface by S. Ya. Marshak, written by him for a collection of selected poems in the series “Library of Soviet Poetry” (M. 1964).)
I was born in 1887 on October 22 old style (November 3 new) in the city of Voronezh.
I wrote this phrase, usual for life stories, and thought: how can I fit a long life, full of many events, into a few pages of a short autobiography? One list of memorable dates would take up a lot of space.
But this small collection of poems written in different years (from approximately 1908 to 1963) is, in essence, my short autobiography. Here the reader will find poems that reflect different periods of my life, starting with my childhood and adolescence years spent on the outskirts of Voronezh and Ostrogozhsk.
My father, Yakov Mironovich Marshak, worked as a foreman in factories (that’s why we lived on the factory outskirts). But work in small artisanal factories did not satisfy the gifted man, who self-taught himself in the basics of chemistry and was constantly engaged in various experiments. In search of a better use of his strengths and knowledge, the father and his entire family moved from city to city, until he finally settled permanently in St. Petersburg. The memory of these endless and difficult journeys was preserved in poems about my childhood.
In Ostrogozhsk I entered the gymnasium. He passed the exams with straight A's, but was not accepted immediately due to the percentage norm that existed at that time for Jewish students. I started writing poetry even before I learned to write. I owe a lot to one of my gymnasium teachers, Vladimir Ivanovich Teplykh, who strove to instill in his students a love of strict and simple language, devoid of pretentiousness and banality.
So I would have lived in small, quiet Ostrogozhsk until I graduated from high school, if not for an accidental and completely unexpected turn in my fate.
Soon after my father found a job in St. Petersburg, my mother and her younger children also moved there. But even in the capital, our family lived on the outskirts, alternately behind all the outposts - Moscow, Narva and Nevskaya.
Only me and my older brother remained in Ostrogozhsk. It was even more difficult for us to transfer to the St. Petersburg gymnasium than to enter the Ostrogozh one. By chance, during the summer holidays, I met the famous critic Vladimir Vasilyevich Stasov in St. Petersburg. He greeted me unusually cordially and warmly, as he greeted many young musicians, artists, writers, and performers.
I remember the words from Chaliapin’s memoirs: “This man seemed to embrace me with his soul.”
Having become acquainted with my poems, Vladimir Vasilyevich gave me a whole library of classics, and during our meetings he talked a lot about his acquaintance with Glinka, Turgenev, Herzen, Goncharov, Leo Tolstoy. Mussorgsky. Stasov was for me like a bridge almost to the Pushkin era. After all, he was born in January 1824, before the Decembrist uprising, in the year of Byron’s death.
In the fall of 1902, I returned to Ostrogozhsk, and soon a letter arrived from Stasov that he had achieved my transfer to the St. Petersburg 3rd gymnasium - one of the few where, after the reform of Minister Vannovsky, the teaching of ancient languages was fully preserved. This gymnasium was more formal and official than my Ostrogozh one. Among the lively and dapper metropolitan high school students, I seemed - to myself and to others - a modest and timid provincial. I felt much freer and more confident in Stasov’s house and in the spacious halls of the Public Library, where Vladimir Vasilyevich was in charge of the art department. I met everyone here - professors and students, composers, artists and writers, famous and unknown. Stasov took me to the Museum of the Academy of Arts to look at the wonderful drawings of Alexander Ivanov, and in the library he showed me a collection of popular popular prints with inscriptions in poetry and prose. It was he who first interested me in Russian fairy tales, songs and epics.
At Stasov’s dacha, in the village of Starozhilovka, in 1904, I met Gorky and Chaliapin, and this meeting led to a new turn in my destiny. Having learned from Stasov that I had been getting sick often since moving to St. Petersburg, Gorky invited me to settle in Yalta. And he immediately turned to Chaliapin: “Shall we arrange this, Fedor?” - “We’ll arrange it, we’ll arrange it!” - Chaliapin answered cheerfully.
And a month later, news came from Gorky from Yalta that I had been accepted into the Yalta gymnasium and would live with his family, with Ekaterina Pavlovna Peshkova.
I arrived in Yalta when the memory of the recently deceased Chekhov was still fresh there. This collection contains poems in which I remember the orphaned Chekhov’s house I saw for the first time on the edge of the city.
I will never forget how warmly Ekaterina Pavlovna Peshkova, who was still very young at that time, greeted me. Alexei Maksimovich was no longer in Yalta, but even before his new arrival, the house where the Peshkov family lived was, as it were, electrified by the impending revolution.
In 1905, the resort town was unrecognizable. Here for the first time I saw fiery banners on the streets, heard speeches and songs of the revolution in the open air. I remember how Alexey Maksimovich arrived in Yalta, shortly before being released from the Peter and Paul Fortress. During this time, he became noticeably haggard, paler, and grew a small reddish beard. At Ekaterina Pavlovna's he read aloud the play "Children of the Sun" he wrote in the fortress.
Soon after the stormy months of 1905, widespread arrests and searches began in Yalta. Here at that time the fierce mayor, General Dumbadze, ruled. Many fled the city to avoid arrest. Returning to Yalta from St. Petersburg in August 1906 after the holidays, I did not find the Peshkov family here.
I was left alone in the city. He rented a room somewhere in the Old Bazaar and gave lessons. During these months of loneliness, I voraciously read new literature, previously unknown to me - Ibsen, Hauptmann, Maeterlinck, Edgar Allan Poe, Baudelaire, Verlaine, Oscar Wilde, our symbolist poets. It was not easy to understand literary trends that were new to me, but they did not shake the foundation that Pushkin, Gogol, Lermontov, Nekrasov, Tyutchev, Fet, Tolstoy and Chekhov, the folk epic, Shakespeare and Cervantes firmly laid in my mind.
In the winter of 1906, the director of the gymnasium summoned me to his office. Under strict secrecy, he warned me that I was in danger of expulsion from the gymnasium and arrest, and advised me to leave Yalta as quietly and quickly as possible.
And so I found myself in St. Petersburg again. Stasov had died shortly before, Gorky was abroad. Like many other people my age, I had to make my way into literature on my own, without anyone’s help. I began publishing in 1907 in almanacs, and later in the newly emerged magazine "Satyricon" and in other weeklies. Several poems written in early youth, lyrical and satirical, are included in this book.
Among the poets whom I already knew and loved, Alexander Blok occupied a special place in these years. I remember with what excitement I read my poems to him in his modestly furnished office. And the point here was not only that in front of me was a famous poet who already owned the minds of young people. From the first meeting, he struck me with his unusual - open and fearless - truthfulness and some kind of tragic seriousness. So thoughtful were his words, so alien to the vanity of his movements and gestures. Blok could often be found on white nights walking alone along the straight streets and avenues of St. Petersburg, and he seemed to me then as if the embodiment of this sleepless city. Most of all, his image is associated in my memory with the St. Petersburg Islands. In one of my poems I wrote:
Neva has been speaking in poetry for a long time.
Nevsky is like a page from Gogol.
The entire Summer Garden is Onegin's chapter.
The Islands remember Blok,
And Dostoevsky wanders along Razyezzhaya...
At the very beginning of 1912, I secured the consent of several editors of newspapers and magazines to print my correspondence and went to study in England. Soon after our arrival, my young wife, Sofya Mikhailovna, and I entered the University of London: I - to the Faculty of Arts (in our opinion - philological), my wife - to the Faculty of Exact Sciences.
At my faculty, we thoroughly studied the English language, its history, as well as the history of literature. Particularly much time was devoted to Shakespeare. But, perhaps, the university library made me most familiar with English poetry. In the cramped rooms, completely lined with cabinets, overlooking the busy Thames, teeming with barges and steamships, I first learned what I later translated - sonnets by Shakespeare, poems by William Blake, Robert Burns, John Keats, Robert Browning, Kipling. In this library I also came across wonderful English children's folklore, full of whimsical humor. My long-standing acquaintance with our Russian children's folklore helped me to recreate in Russian these classical poems, songs and jokes that are difficult to translate.
Since our literary earnings were barely enough to live on, my wife and I had the opportunity to live in the most democratic areas of London - first in the northern part, then in the poorest and most densely populated - eastern, and only in the end did we get to one of the central areas near The British Museum, where many foreign students like us lived.
And during the holidays, we took walks around the country, walking along two southern counties (regions) - Devonshire and Cornwall. During one of our long walks, we met and became friends with a very interesting forest school in Wales (“School of Simple Life”), with its teachers and children.
All this had an impact on my future destiny and work.
In my early youth, when I loved lyric poetry most of all, and most often submitted satirical poems to print, I could not even imagine that over time translations and children's literature would occupy a large place in my work. One of my first poems, published in "Satyricon" ("Complaint"), was an epigram on translators of that time, when we published many translations from French, Belgian, Scandinavian, Mexican, Peruvian and all sorts of other poetry. The craving for everything foreign was so great at that time that many poets flaunted foreign names and words in their poems, and a certain writer even chose for himself a sonorous pseudonym similar to a royal name - “Oscar of Norway.” Only the best poets of that time cared about the quality of their translations. Bunin translated Longfellow's "Hiawatha" in such a way that this translation could take place next to his original poems. The same can be said about the translations of Bryusov from Verhaeren and Armenian poets, about some translations of Balmont from Shelley and Edgar Poe, Alexander Blok from Heine. We can name several more talented and thoughtful translators. And most poetic translations were the work of literary artisans, who often distorted both the original from which they were translated and the native language.
At that time, the most popular literature for children was made by the hands of artisans. The golden fund of the children's library was the classics, Russian and foreign, folklore and those stories, short stories and essays that were given to children from time to time by the best modern writers, popularizers of science and teachers. Sweet and helpless poems and sentimental stories predominated in pre-revolutionary children's literature (especially in magazines), the heroes of which were, in Gorky's words, “disgustingly charming boys” and the same girls.
It’s not surprising that I had a deep prejudice then towards children’s books with gold-embossed bindings or cheap, colorful covers.
I began translating poetry in England, working in our quiet university library. And I translated not by order, but out of love - just as I wrote my own lyric poems. My attention was first attracted to English and Scottish folk ballads by the poet of the second half of the 18th and first quarter of the 19th centuries, William Blake, who was celebrated and included in the classics many years after his death, and his contemporary, who died in the 18th century, the national poet of Scotland, Robert Burns .
I continued to work on translating the poems of both poets after returning to my homeland. My translations of folk ballads and poems by Wordsworth and Blake were published in 1915-1917 in the magazines “Northern Notes”, “Russian Thought”, etc.
And I came to children's literature later - after the revolution,
I returned from England to my homeland a month before the First World War. I was not accepted into the army because of poor eyesight, but I stayed for a long time in Voronezh, where at the beginning of 1915 I went to be drafted. Here I plunged headlong into work, into which life itself gradually and imperceptibly drew me. The fact is that at that time the tsarist government resettled many residents of the front line, mainly from the poorest Jewish towns, to the Voronezh province. The fate of these refugees depended entirely on voluntary public assistance. I remember one of the Voronezh buildings, which housed a whole place. Here the bunks were houses, and the passages between them were streets. It seemed as if an anthill with all its inhabitants had been moved from place to place. My job was to help displaced children.
I developed an interest in children long before I began writing books for them. Without any practical purpose, I visited St. Petersburg primary schools and orphanages, loved to invent fantastic and funny stories for the children, and enthusiastically took part in their games. I became even closer to the children in Voronezh when I had to take care of their shoes, coats and blankets.
And yet, the help we provided to the refugee children had a tinge of charity.
I established a deeper and more permanent connection with children only after the revolution, which opened up wide scope for initiative in matters of education.
In Krasnodar (formerly Yekaterinodar), where my father worked at a factory and where our whole family moved in the summer of 1917, I worked for a local newspaper, and after the restoration of Soviet power, I was in charge of the section of orphanages and colonies of the regional department of public education. Here, with the help of the head of the department M.A. Aleksinsky, I and several other writers, artists and composers organized in 1920 one of the first theaters for children in our country, which soon grew into a whole “Children’s Town” with its own school, children’s a garden, a library, carpentry and metalworking workshops and various clubs.
Remembering these years, you don’t know what to be more surprised at: the fact that in a country depleted by intervention and civil war, a “Children’s Town” could arise and exist for several years, or the dedication of its workers, who were content with meager rations and earnings.
But the theater staff included such workers as Dmitry Orlov (later People's Artist of the RSFSR, actor of the Meyerhold Theater, and then of the Moscow Art Theater), as well as the oldest Soviet composer V. A. Zolotarev and others.
Mostly two people wrote plays for the theater - me and the poetess E. I. Vasilyeva-Dmitrieva. This was the beginning of my poetry for children, which has a significant place in this collection.
Looking back, you see how every year I became more and more fascinated by working with and for children. "Children's Town" (1920-1922), the Leningrad Theater for Young Spectators (1922-1924), the editorial office of the magazine "New Robinson" (1924-1925), the children's and youth department of Lengosizdat, and then the "Young Guard" and, finally, the Leningrad editorial office Detgiza (1924-1937).
The magazine "New Robinson" (which at first bore the modest and unpretentious name "Sparrow") played an important role in the history of our children's literature. It already contained the sprouts of that new and original thing that distinguishes this literature from the previous, pre-revolutionary one. Boris Zhitkov, Vitaly Bianchi, M. Ilyin, and the future playwright Evgeny Schwartz began to appear on its pages for the first time.
Even greater opportunities opened up for the front desk and other magazine employees when we started working at the publishing house. Over the thirteen years of this work, the publishing houses under whose jurisdiction the editors were changed, but mainly the editors themselves did not change, tirelessly searching for new authors, new topics and genres of fiction and educational literature for children. The editorial staff were convinced that a children's book should and can be a work of high art, which does not allow any discounts on the age of the reader.
Arkady Gaidar, M. Ilyin, V. Bianki, L. Panteleev, Evg. presented their first books here. Charushin, T. Bogdanovich, D. Kharms, A. Vvedensky, Elena Danko, Vyach. Lebedev, N. Zabolotsky, L. Budogoskaya and many other writers. Alexei Tolstoy’s book “The Adventures of Pinocchio” was also published here.
We did not know at that time how closely our work was followed by A. M. Gorky, who was then in Italy, who attached paramount importance to children's literature. Even in the very first years of the revolution, he founded the magazine for children “Northern Lights”, and then, with the participation of Korney Chukovsky and Alexander Benois, edited the cheerful and festive children’s almanac “Yelka”.
My communication with Alexei Maksimovich was interrupted since the time of his departure abroad in 1906.
And in 1927, I received a letter from him from Sorrento, in which he spoke with praise about the books of Boris Zhitkov, Vitaly Bianchi and mine, as well as about the drawings of V.V. Lebedev, who worked in our editorial office hand in hand with me. Since then, not a single outstanding book for children has escaped Gorky's attention. He rejoiced at the appearance of the story “The Shkid Republic” by L. Panteleev and G. Belykh, the publication of “The Story of the Great Plan” and the book “Mountains and People” by M. Ilyin. In the almanac published under his editorship, he included the children's book published by us by the famous physicist M. P. Bronstein, “Solar Matter.”
And when in 1929-1930 the combined forces of the most irreconcilable Rappists and dogmatists from pedology took up arms against me and our entire editorial board, Alexey Maksimovich issued an angry rebuke to all the persecutors of fantasy and humor in children's books (articles “The Man Whose Ears Are Plugged with Cotton,” “About irresponsible people and about children’s books of our days”, etc.).
I remember how, after one of the meetings on children’s literature, Gorky asked me in his soft, muffled bass voice:
“Well, did they finally allow the inkwell to talk to the candle?
And he added, coughing, completely seriously:
- Refer to me. I myself heard them talking. By God!"
In 1933, Gorky invited me to his place in Sorrento to outline the program for the future - as we called it then - Detizdat and to work on a letter (memorandum) to the Party Central Committee on the organization of the world's first and unprecedented in scale state publishing house for children's literature .
When the First All-Union Congress of Soviet Writers met in Moscow in 1934, Alexey Maksimovich proposed that my speech (“On Great Literature for Little Ones”) be heard at the congress immediately after his report, as a co-report. By this he wanted to emphasize the significance and importance of children's books in our time.
My last meeting with Gorky was in Tesseli (in Crimea) about two months before his death. He gave me the lists of books he planned for publication for children of early and middle age, as well as a project for a sliding geographical map and a geological globe.
The following year, 1937, our editorial board, in the same composition as it had worked in the previous years, disbanded. Two editors were arrested for slanderous libel. True, after some time they were released, but in fact the previous editorial office ceased to exist. Soon I moved to Moscow.
The editorial office took a lot of my energy and left little time for my own literary work, and yet I remember it with satisfaction and with a feeling of deep gratitude to my fellow workers, who were so selflessly and selflessly devoted to the work. These comrades were the wonderful artist V.V. Lebedev, talented writers-editors Tamara Grigorievna Gabbe, Evgeny Schwartz, A. Lyubarskaya, Leonid Savelyev, Lidiya Chukovskaya, Z. Zadunayskaya.
Kukryniksy - M.V. Kupriyanov, P.N. Krylov and N.A. Sokolov.
Satirical poems of the post-war years were directed mainly against forces hostile to peace.
The text of the oratorio, which I wrote for the composer Sergei Prokofiev, is also dedicated to the cause of peace. I worked with him on the cantata “Winter Fire”.
And finally, in 1962, my “Selected Lyrics” was published for the first time.
Now I continue to work in the genres in which I worked before. I write lyric poetry, have written new children's books in verse, am translating Burns and Blake, working on new articles about craftsmanship, and recently returned to drama - I wrote the comedy-fairy tale "Smart Things."
S. MARSHAK
Yalta, 1963
* FAIRY TALES. SONGS. PUZZLES *
*THE STORY BEGINS*
Once,
Two,
Three,
Four.
The story begins:
In the one hundred and thirteenth apartment
The giant lives with us.
He builds towers on the table,
Builds a city in five minutes.
Faithful horse and home elephant
They live under his table.
He takes it out of the closet
Long-legged giraffe
And from the desk drawer -
Long-eared donkey.
Full of heroic strength,
He is from home to gate
A whole passenger train
Leads on a string.
And when there are big puddles
Spills in the spring
A giant serves in the navy
The youngest sergeant major.
He has a sailor's peacoat,
There are anchors on the peacoat.
Cruisers and destroyers
It leads across the seas.
Steamboat after steamship
It leads out into the ocean.
And it grows every year,
This glorious giant!
Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak. Works for children. Volume 1
BALL
MUSTACHIOED - STRIPED
TWO THRUSHES
VANKA-STANDA
LARGE POCKET
ZOO
ELEPHANT
GIRAFFE
TIGER CUB
ZEBRAS
Great ones about poetry:
Poetry is like painting: some works will captivate you more if you look at them closely, and others if you move further away.
Small cutesy poems irritate the nerves more than the creaking of unoiled wheels.
The most valuable thing in life and in poetry is what has gone wrong.
Marina Tsvetaeva
Of all the arts, poetry is the most susceptible to the temptation to replace its own peculiar beauty with stolen splendors.
Humboldt V.
Poems are successful if they are created with spiritual clarity.
The writing of poetry is closer to worship than is usually believed.
If only you knew from what rubbish poems grow without shame... Like a dandelion on a fence, like burdocks and quinoa.
A. A. Akhmatova
Poetry is not only in verses: it is poured out everywhere, it is all around us. Look at these trees, at this sky - beauty and life emanate from everywhere, and where there is beauty and life, there is poetry.
I. S. Turgenev
For many people, writing poetry is a growing pain of the mind.
G. Lichtenberg
A beautiful verse is like a bow drawn through the sonorous fibers of our being. The poet makes our thoughts sing within us, not our own. By telling us about the woman he loves, he delightfully awakens in our souls our love and our sorrow. He's a magician. By understanding him, we become poets like him.
Where graceful poetry flows, there is no room for vanity.
Murasaki Shikibu
I turn to Russian versification. I think that over time we will turn to blank verse. There are too few rhymes in the Russian language. One calls the other. The flame inevitably drags the stone behind it. It is through feeling that art certainly emerges. Who is not tired of love and blood, difficult and wonderful, faithful and hypocritical, and so on.
Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin
-...Are your poems good, tell me yourself?
- Monstrous! – Ivan suddenly said boldly and frankly.
- Do not write anymore! – the newcomer asked pleadingly.
- I promise and swear! - Ivan said solemnly...
Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov. "Master and Margarita"
We all write poetry; poets differ from others only in that they write in their words.
John Fowles. "The French Lieutenant's Mistress"
Every poem is a veil stretched over the edges of a few words. These words shine like stars, and because of them the poem exists.
Alexander Alexandrovich Blok
Ancient poets, unlike modern ones, rarely wrote more than a dozen poems during their long lives. This is understandable: they were all excellent magicians and did not like to waste themselves on trifles. Therefore, behind every poetic work of those times there is certainly hidden an entire Universe, filled with miracles - often dangerous for those who carelessly awaken the dozing lines.
Max Fry. "Chatty Dead"
I gave one of my clumsy hippopotamuses this heavenly tail:...
Mayakovsky! Your poems do not warm, do not excite, do not infect!
- My poems are not a stove, not a sea, and not a plague!
Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky
Poems are our inner music, clothed in words, permeated with thin strings of meanings and dreams, and therefore, drive away the critics. They are just pathetic sippers of poetry. What can a critic say about the depths of your soul? Don't let his vulgar groping hands in there. Let poetry seem to him like an absurd moo, a chaotic pile-up of words. For us, this is a song of freedom from a boring mind, a glorious song sounding on the snow-white slopes of our amazing soul.
Boris Krieger. "A Thousand Lives"
Poems are the thrill of the heart, the excitement of the soul and tears. And tears are nothing more than pure poetry that has rejected the word.
Marshak S.Ya. - Russian poet, translator, playwright, screenwriter, literary critic, popular author of children's works. Thanks to easy rhyme and simple style, his books find a lively response among the growing generation, open up the facets of the world around them, and teach goodness and justice. The given list of Marshak’s works for children includes various poetic genres: plays, poems, fairy tales, jokes, nursery rhymes, tongue twisters.
Bus number twenty six
The work is an alphabet with the names of animals from the letter “B” to “Z”. The animals are traveling on the bus, and some of them behave rudely and discourteously. The poem not only broadens the child’s horizons and teaches the alphabet, but also calls for compliance with the rules of conduct in public transport and mutual politeness.
Baggage
The satirical work “Baggage” is known and loved by many generations of readers. The poem tells the story of a lady who checked in, among other things, a small dog and received back a huge, angry dog. “The dog could have grown up during the journey!” - they tell the woman. The piece attracts children with the repeated refrain of the lady's luggage, making it easy to remember.
Large pocket
The work tells the story of a thrifty boy, Vanya, who puts everything he can get his hands on into his pocket: nuts, nails, an old faucet. The mother takes the baby to the nursery, but there are so many things there... The boy’s pocket turns into a suitcase, in which they find: a broken spoon, slippers, a pancake, a matryoshka doll, a canvas drum and much more.
A funny alphabet about everything in the world
The work will help the child learn the letters of the alphabet. A simple syllable and rhyme contribute to better memorization and assimilation of the alphabet. The poem broadens the child’s horizons, talks about animals, birds, plants, insects, natural phenomena, people and their activities, and much more. The book is suitable for first independent reading.
A fun journey from A to Z
Marshak in his work invites children on a journey through the alphabet. A fascinating journey along the lines of the ABC book will not only help your child remember letters and learn to read, but also get to know the world around him. The book is intended for reading by adults to preschool children. Thanks to the fun content, the learning process arouses interest in the child. The poem is suitable for first independent reading.
Fun account
Marshak's work is intended to teach children how to count from 0 to 10. The poem presents stories about each number. Educational and fun text introduces children to the world around them and promotes quick memorization of numbers. The book is suitable for first independent reading.
War with the Dnieper
Marshak’s work “War with the Dnieper” tells children about the confrontation between man and the mighty river. The poem tells about the great construction work and powerful equipment being carried out on the Dnieper. The author extols the human mind, the strength of people, their desire to replenish the country's reserves with natural resources.
Volga and Vazuza
Marshak’s work “Volga and Vazuza” tells about the rivalry between 2 river sisters. They constantly argue about who is stronger, faster, more cunning, etc. And the rivers decided to run to the sea in the morning; whoever reaches it first is the main one. But Vazuza deceived her sister and set off on her journey earlier. The Volga caught up with its rival, she completely ran out of strength, and the two rivers united. Since then, Vazuza wakes up her sister every spring to make her way to the sea.
That's how absent-minded
The work tells about an absent-minded man living on Basseynaya Street. He finds himself in ridiculous situations, confusing things, household items, words in phrases. A simple trip from Leningrad to Moscow becomes a problem for a person. He goes to the station and spends 2 days in an uncoupled carriage, believing that he is on his way. The age of the work is approaching a century, but the expression “scattered from Basseynaya Street” still remains a household word.
To be afraid of grief is to see no happiness
The work “Fearing Grief - Not Seeing Happiness” tells about Grief-Misfortune, which traveled around the world, fraudulently passing from person to person. Having reached the king and ruined the state, Misfortune falls to the soldier, who refuses to deceive people and pass on misfortunes further. Grief tries to intimidate the servant with various troubles, but he does not give in to fears. By deception, the servant locks Misfortune in the snuffbox and returns to his bride Nastya. The snuff box subsequently remains with the greedy king, woodcutter and merchant, and Grief takes them to hell. The soldier and Nastya are getting married.
Twelve months
The work “Twelve Months” tells about a hardworking and sympathetic girl living with a cruel stepmother and her arrogant daughter. On a cold January evening, an evil woman sends her stepdaughter into the forest to get snowdrops and tells her not to return without them. In the bitter cold, she meets 12 months in the guise of people who decide to help the frozen girl, briefly switching roles. The stepdaughter returns home with flowers, but this is not enough for the stepmother and her daughter, they want richer gifts. The evil sister goes to the forest at 12 months, but behaves rudely and impolitely, for which she receives punishment - she is covered with snow. The stepmother is looking for her daughter, but she herself is freezing. A kind girl grows up, starts a family, lives happily ever after.
Kids in a cage
The work “Children in a Cage” is popular among preschool children. The book tells about the life of the Zoo and its inhabitants. The author talks about many animals: lions, kangaroos, crocodile, camel, elephant, hyena, bear, monkey and others. Cheerful quatrains are replaced by lines with sad and touching shades.
If you are polite
The work “If You Are Polite” teaches generally accepted rules of decency and behavior. A well-mannered person will give up his seat on public transport, help a disabled person, will not make noise in class, will not interrupt adults, will free his mother from household chores, will not be late, and so on. The poem teaches us to protect the weak, not to be timid in front of those who are stronger, and not to take other people’s things without asking.
Jafar's Ring
The tale tells of old Jafar, who moved with the help of porters. One day, on the way home from the market, the sage lost his ring. He asked his servants to look for the jewel, but they refused, arguing that this was not their responsibility. Then Jafar replied that in this case he would look for the ring himself and sat on the shoulders of the porters. The servants had to not only go in search of the jewel, but also carry the old sage on themselves.
The cat and the quitters
Marshak’s work “The Cat and the Idlers” tells about lazy people who went to the skating rink instead of school. And they met a cat, upset that they had not invented a school for animals, and at his age he was not taught either writing or literacy, and without them you would be lost in life. The slackers answered that they were already in their twelfth year, but they didn’t know how to do anything because they were too lazy to study. The cat was very surprised and replied that it was the first time he had met such lazy people.
furrier cat
The work tells the story of a dog who brings a sheep skin to a furrier cat and asks him to sew a hat. The dog regularly comes for the order, but it is still not ready. The dog realizes the deception and quarrels with the cat. Animals are judged. After this, the furrier runs away, taking all the furs with him. Since then, cats and dogs have not gotten along.
cat house
The work “Cat's House” tells the story of a rich cat living in a luxurious house. She receives guests, but denies food and shelter to her poor kitten nephews. One day a fire started in the house and it was impossible to save it: everything burned to the ground. The cat and the janitor cat Vasily ask for shelter from former guests. However, everyone refuses fire victims under various pretexts. The cat and her companion are helped by beggar kitten nephews. They live together all winter, and in the spring they build a new luxurious house.
All year round
Marshak’s work “All Year Round” tells the reader about the 12 months, their features and symptoms. The poem helps the child remember the seasons and learn to distinguish between them. By rereading the lines, the child will learn the months and their order. The book is recommended for reading by adults and children of preschool age. Suitable for first independent reading.
Master craftsman
The work tells the story of a boy who considers himself an excellent carpenter, but does not want to study. He decided to make a buffet, but could not handle the saw. I decided to make a stool, but I couldn’t handle the axe. I set about making a frame for the portrait, but only ruined the material. All that was left of the boards was a pile of wood chips for kindling the samovar. Eh, master craftsman!
Miller, boy and donkey
A comic fairy tale tells about people who, no matter how hard they try, cannot please public opinion. An old man rides a donkey, a boy walks next to him - people gossip that this is wrong. Then the miller makes room for his grandson, and he goes on foot. But even now people are unhappy - the young man is forcing the old man to go. Then the boy and the miller sit on the donkey together, but now the people feel sorry for the animal. As a result, the baby and grandfather walk, the donkey sits astride the miller. But even now the people do not let up: “The old donkey is lucky for the young!”
Mister Twister
The satirical poem "Mr. Twister" satirizes racism. The anti-bourgeois feuilleton tells about a wealthy banker who came with his family on vacation to the USSR. Mr. Twister, seeing a black man in the hotel, did not want to stay there any longer, and the family went to look for another place to stay, but to no avail. As a result, the doorman arranged for them to spend the night in the Swiss room, in the hallway on a chair and on the buffet counter. Twister dreams that he is not allowed back to America. In the morning, the family agrees to live in the 2 rooms offered, despite the presence of people of a different race as neighbors.
Why doesn't the month have a dress?
The work tells the story of a tailor's attempts to sew a dress for the month. However, the figure of the celestial body was constantly changing: now it became a full moon, now a crescent, now a thin sickle. The tailor had to take measurements again and alter the clothes several times, but as a result he gave up and recommended staying without a dress for a month.
First day of the calendar
Marshak’s work “The First Day of the Calendar” talks about September 1st. The author describes the first day of school after the summer holidays, when children from different countries, cities, villages, villages, auls, and kishlaks go to school. For some of the guys it is in the mountains or on the seashore, for others it is among fields or in large populated areas. All the girls and boys are in a hurry for the start of the new school year.
Fire
The work “Fire” talks about the complex and hard work of firefighters who are always ready to fight fire. Events in the poem develop rapidly: mother goes to the market, Helen opens the stove door, and flames burst into the apartment. The brave and kind fireman Kuzma selflessly fights the fire and saves a girl and a cat.
The work “Mail” tells about the work of postmen, about a registered letter that flew around the world for its recipient. The poem tells children about the joy of people receiving long-awaited news, about the time when a man with a “thick bag on his shoulder” delivered mail from house to house and was practically the only link between populated areas.
The Adventures of Cipollino
The work tells about the cheerful Cipollino, his homeland, where lemons, oranges, mangoes and other fruits ripen. The onion boy tells about his origin and relatives: grandfather Cipollone, father, brothers and sisters. Cipollino's family lives in poverty, and he goes in search of a better life.
About two neighbors
The work tells the story of a beggar who asks his neighbor for a donkey so he can go to the market. At this time, the cry of an animal is heard from the barn, but the rich man continues to deceive the poor man. The beggar leaves with nothing, but on the way home he sees a neighbor's sheep that has strayed from the herd. He hides the animal in his home. Now the poor neighbor is deceiving the rich man who came for the ram.
Poodle
Marshak's funny poem "Poodle" tells about an old woman and her funny dog. Reading the adventures of the heroes, it is impossible not to laugh: either a poodle climbs into a cupboard, then the owner loses him and searches for 14 days, while he runs behind her, then a chicken pecks the dog on the nose, then he wraps the whole apartment, grandma and the cat in a ball. thread And one day the old woman decided that the dog had died and ran for the doctors, but he turned out to be alive and unharmed.
A story about an unknown hero
The work tells about the search for a young man who saved a girl from a fire and wished to remain anonymous. He passed a burning house on a tram and saw the silhouette of a child in the window. Jumping out of the carriage, the guy reached the burning apartment through a drainpipe. Arriving firefighters could not find the child, but the hero came out of the gate with the girl in his arms, gave her to her mother, jumped on the tram and disappeared around the corner. The reason for writing the poem was a similar case of a citizen saving a woman from a fire in 1936.
The Tale of a Stupid Mouse
The work tells about a mouse who could not lull the little mouse to sleep. The baby didn’t like her voice, and he asked her to look for a nanny for him. However, no one's lullaby pleased him: not a duck, not a toad, not a horse, not a chicken, not a pike. And only the mouse liked the sweet voice of the cat. The mother returned, but the stupid baby was not on the bed...
The Tale of a Smart Mouse
The work is a continuation of the sad “Tale of a Stupid Mouse”. The cat takes the baby out of the hole and wants to play, but he runs away from the predator into a hole in the fence. There, a new danger awaits the mouse - a ferret. But the baby deceives him and hides under an old stump. On the way home, the mouse encounters a hedgehog and an owl, but he manages to outwit them all and return unharmed to his mom, dad, brothers and sisters.
Tale about a goat
A fairy tale-play in 2 acts tells about a goat helping a woman and grandfather on the farm. A kind animal cooks food, lights the stove, chops wood, brings water, and spins yarn. While the grandfather and woman were resting, the goat went into the forest to pick mushrooms, and 7 wolves attacked him. The animal was afraid that the old people would disappear without it, and began to desperately defend itself. At this time, the grandfather and woman went to look for an assistant and scared off the predatory flock with shouts. The old people are happy that the goat is alive and well, and he promises to bake them a mushroom pie.
Old woman, close the door!
The comic work tells about a stupid argument between an old man and an old woman about who will close the door. They decide that whoever speaks first will do it. It's midnight and the door is still open. Strangers entered the dark house, took away the food the old woman had prepared, and the grandfather’s tobacco, but they did not object, fearing to argue with each other.
Quiet fairy tale
In the work “A Quiet Tale,” the author talks about the quiet life of a family of hedgehogs. They were very quiet, walking through the forest at night while the other inhabitants were sleeping peacefully. However, two wolves cannot sleep and attack the family. The needles reliably protect the hedgehogs, and the evil predators retreat. The family quietly returns home.
Teremok
Marshak in his play “Teremok” slightly changes the traditional fairy tale plot, contrasting the peaceful inhabitants of the house with aggressive forest inhabitants - the Bear, the Fox, the Wolf. The story tells of weak, but friendly and brave friends who managed to repel evil predators. The aggressors are left with nothing and run away back into the forest, while the frog, mouse, hedgehog, and cockerel remain happily living in the little house.
Ugomon
The work tells about the older brother of peaceful sleep - Ugomon. He calms those who do not want to go to bed, make noise and disturb others. Ugomon visits trolleybus and tram depots, pavements, forests, trains, ships, and airplanes. And he even manages to put baby Anton to sleep. But not only does Ugomon come at night, he is also indispensable at school to calm noisy students.
Mustachioed - Striped
The touching story “Mustachioed and Striped” tells about a girl caring for a kitten like a child who does not want to bathe, sleep in a crib, or learn to read. The work combines poetry and prose; word play attracts young readers. Next to a stupid kitten, children feel big and smart.
Smart things
The comedy fairy tale “Smart Things” tells the story of a trading shop where an old man sold outlandish items: a self-assembled tablecloth, an invisible hat, running boots, and so on. One day, a kind and honest musician liked a pipe and a mirror, but he had no money. The seller of the outlandish shop gave him the items for free with the condition of returning them in a year. However, the musician was deceived by a greedy merchant who took possession of his things and sent him to prison. However, smart objects did not serve the new owner and did not bring him any benefit. Good conquers evil: the musician was freed, and the greedy merchant was punished.
A good day
The poem "Nice Day" is about a boy who is happy that his dad has a day off and they will spend time together. Father and son make grandiose plans and then bring them to life: they go to a shooting range, a zoo, ride a pony, a car, a trolleybus, a subway, a tram. After an adventure, a tired boy and his dad return home with a bouquet of lilacs.
Six units
The work “Six Units” tells the story of a student who received 6 lowest marks for his answers in class: he called the baobab a bird, the hypotenuse a river, the zebra an insect, and, according to the boy, kangaroos grow in the garden bed. Upset parents send their son to bed. And the careless student had a dream in which his incorrect answers were embodied.
Popular poems
The poems of Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak will interest children in grades 1-2-3 and preschoolers.
- A, Be, Tse
- Artek
- White cat
- Grandma's favorites
- Drum and pipe
- Lamb
- Bye-bye, kids
- White page
- Vanka-Vstanka
- Giant
- Visiting the Queen
- In the underground
- Wolf and fox
- Meeting
- At the theater for children
- Where did you have lunch, sparrow?
- Two cats
- Ten Little Indians
- Orphanage
- Rain
- Doctor Faustus
- Friends and comrades
- Fools
- Greedy
- The hare wooed the fox
- Punctuation marks
- Captain
- Ship
- Kittens
- Who will find the ring?
- Who fell
- Blacksmith
- Moonlit evening
- Little fairies
- Bubble
- About boys and girls
- Why was the cat called a cat?
- What were the horses, hamsters and chickens talking about?
- Gloves
- Song about the Christmas tree
- Petya the parrot
- Piglets
- Adventure on the road
- The Adventures of Murzilka
- Signs
- About the hippopotamus
- Rainbow
- Rainbow-arc
- Talk
- Conversation with first class
- Robin-Bobin
- Robinson Crusoe
- Guinea pig
- The Tale of the King and the Soldier
- old lady
- Counting book
- Three wise men
- Three gifts
- Smart Vasya
- A Lesson in Politeness
- Fomka
- Round dance
- Brave men
- Four eyes
- Humpty Dumpty
- As a keepsake for the student
- I have seen
Translations of Marshak
Marshak is recognized as one of the best translators, thanks to his ability to preserve the richness of the Russian language, without changing the character of the foreign original.
- Alice in Wonderland. Lewis Carroll
- Alice in the Wonderland. Lewis Carroll
- The Ballad of the Royal Sandwich. Alan Milne
- The house that Jack built. Jonathan Swift
- Heather honey. Robert Louis Stevenson.
- Lyrics. Robert Burns
- Fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm
- Fairy tales. Rudyard Kipling
- Sonnets. William Shakespeare
- Cold heart. Wilhelm Hauff