Julian Tuwim (1894-1953) - great Polish poet and prose writer. He is best known to Russian readers for his poems for children translated by S. Marshak and S. Mikhalkov and the word-creative fantasy “Green” translated by L. Martynov.
Julian Tuwim was born into a Polish Jewish family in the city of Lodz. He graduated from the Russian gymnasium there and in 1916-1918 studied law and philosophy at the University of Warsaw.
He made his debut in 1913 with the poem “Request,” published in the Warsaw Courier.
Tuwim was greatly influenced by such poets as W. Whitman and A. Rimbaud. His poetry often used colloquial, everyday language. The optimism reflected in his early poems was gradually replaced by a bitter and devastated worldview. His poem ("A Ball at the Opera"), a satirical depiction of the Polish government, was banned by censorship.
He was one of the founders of the experimental literary group "Scamander" in 1919. Since 1924, Tuwim wrote a weekly column in the Literary News newspaper.
In the pre-war 1930s, Tuwim's poems voiced sharp criticism of fascism. After the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Tuwim fled Poland to Romania, then moved to France, Portugal, Brazil and finally to the United States. In 1946 he returned to Poland.
He translated various works of Russian and Soviet literature into Polish - “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”, “Woe from Wit” by A. S. Griboyedov, the poetry of A. S. Pushkin, V. V. Mayakovsky, B. L. Pasternak. A collection of selected Pushkin poems in translations by Tuvim “Pushkin’s Lute” was highly appreciated by Vladislav Khodasevich. Tuwim also acted as a translation theorist (article “Quatrains on the Workbench” about the translation of the beginning of “Ruslan and Lyudmila”).
Tuwim was a literary scholar and bibliophile who collected unusual and rare literary phenomena; this hobby of his was reflected in his published anthology of Polish frashka, a collection of Polish “diavoliads” and a collection of unusual verse forms “Pegasus on End”.
Streets in different cities of Poland are named after Tuwim: Lodz, Olsztyn, Gdansk, Chrzanow, etc. In the poet’s hometown - Lodz - there is a monument to Tuwim and his museum, as well as a memorial plaque at the gymnasium where he studied, with the lines of the poem “Above Caesar "
He was buried in Warsaw.
Polish poet, known for his works for children. Born into a Polish Jewish family. He graduated from school there and in 1916-18. studied law and philosophy at the University of Warsaw.
He made his debut in 1913 with the poem “Request,” published in the Warsaw Courier (Kurierze Warszawskim). Tuwim was greatly influenced by such poets as W. Whitman and A. Rimbaud. His poetry often used colloquial, everyday language. The optimism reflected in his early poems was gradually replaced by a bitter and devastated worldview. His poem Bal w Operze ("Ball at the Opera"), satirizing the Polish government, was banned by censors.
He was one of the founders of the experimental literary group Scamander in 1919. Since 1924, Tuwim wrote a weekly column in the newspaper Literary News (Wiadomości Literackie).
In the pre-war 1930s, Tuwim's poems voiced sharp criticism of fascism. Having spent 1939-1945 in exile, he continued to speak out against fascism.
Translated into Polish various works of Russian and Soviet literature (“The Lay of Igor’s Campaign”; “Woe from Wit” by A. S. Griboyedov; poetry by A. S. Pushkin, V. V. Mayakovsky, B. L. Pasternak). It is best known to Russian readers in the translation by S. Ya. Marshak.
Collections and publications
Czyhanie na Boga (“I am in wait for God”, 1918)
Socrates tanczacy ("Dancing Socrates", 1920)
Siódma jeś’ień (“Seventh Autumn”, 1922)
Czwarty tom wierszy (“The fourth volume of poems”, 1923)
Czary i czarty polskie, Wypisy czarnoksięskie (1923)
Słowa we krwi (“Words in the Blood”, 1926)
Rzecz czarnoleska (“Black Forest”, 1929)
Biblja cygańska ("Gypsy Bible", 1933)
Jarmark rymów (1934)
Polski słownik pijacki i Antologia bachiczna (1935)
Treść gorejąca ("Burning Essence", 1936)
Lokomotywa (Lokomotiv, 1938)
Satirical poem Bal w Operze (“Ball at the Opera”, 1936, published 1946)
Cztery wieki fraszki polskiej (1937)
Polska nowela fantastyczna (1949)
Unfinished poem Kwiaty polskie (“Flowers of Poland”, published in fragments, ed. 1949)
Pegaz dęba, czyli Panopticum poetyckie (1950)
Cycle “From New Poems” (1953)
Księga wierszy polskich XIX wieku (1954)
Cicer cum caule, czyli Groch z kapustą (1958-1963)
Julian Tuwim died (1953) before reaching fifty. The great Polish poet, satirist, humorist, writer and screenwriter is familiar to Russian readers primarily through his children's poems, although he was rather a tragic poet, with a difficult fate, who felt ownerless in his own country. He loved Poland very much, was born (1894) in Lodz, into a Jewish family that completely assimilated: converted to Catholicism, spoke only Polish, the boy did not hear any other language. My grandfather published the first Polish-language newspaper for Lodz Jews and regularly attended church. In a word, he was a Jewish Pole, not a Polish Jew.
But the purebred Poles did not consider him one of their own; for them, Julian Tuwim remained a Jew who learned to speak and write in Polish, and who illegally appropriated the title of Polish writer. The Jews also did not recognize him as one of their own: he did not know the Hebrew language, did not perform Jewish rituals and did not attend the synagogue. In their eyes, he was a traitor to Jewish national traditions. Only his favorite language never betrayed him or betrayed him.
Everything is not real here:
And those flowers that I call alive,
And the things that I call mine
And the rooms in which I live;
Everything is not real here,
And I walk with steps that are not mine, -
I don’t walk, but I float through a dream.
( Apartment )
Julian Tuwim felt the word, the whole universe was filled with it, it was impossible to say where the word began and where Tuwim ended: he had a “philological worldview.” It came to him through misfortune, turning into a gift - a sense of words and rhythm.
For the poet, the word had a mystical and even sensual-erotic meaning. In one of his essays, he wrote: “The Word became flesh and lives among us, it feeds hungry bodies. The word is like a fruit, for example, a peach: very soft, round, with a delicate fluff, it attracts me, awakens desire in me; I want to caress it with my lips, lightly squeeze it with my fingers, gently stroke it and blow on its velvety skin.”
As a little boy, he loved to dig into words from different languages that sounded alike. This linguistic fascination continued throughout his life. Later, the poet began saving exotic words and phrases on cards. This was for him some kind of document certifying that the word has its own biology.
Each word of Julian Tuwim has its own unique aroma, similar to the scent of every flower in the forest. The poet wanted to go beyond the meaning of the word through sound, as Velimir Khlebnikov wanted. He tried to make language and words self-sufficient, regardless of their meaning.
Philosophy in a coffee shop
Towers of Babel,
Behind-the-scenes tricks
Painted chambers,
Hymns, thrones and battles,
Even poetry -
Not a human calling.Not crosses and logs
For redemption,
So that Barrabas might be saved,
Not land grabs
To feed the offspring
And posthumous glory.
.....Warms the essence of humanity,
Who is hoping to meet
He waits, languishing in silence.
And on a white bench
Writes with a burnt match
Someone's name is funny.
The boy was born with a huge birthmark on his left cheek and therefore most of his photographs were taken in profile. His mother, considering this mark a curse, tried to remove the stain, perform an operation, took him to doctors and healers, but nothing came of it.
The boy was very embarrassed about his “ugliness.” Fearing ridicule, he stopped going outside, going to school, playing with his peers, and became a homebody, a recluse, and a bookworm. Then this reclusiveness grew into a fear of open space - agoraphobia: he never sat facing the window, always only with his back, and moved around the city only in a taxi or with his wife and friends.
Over the years, his love for books turned into a passion: he could not calmly pass by a rare book, becoming simply some kind of pest for other bibliophiles. Showing Tuwim a valuable book meant parting with it forever. He’ll still get it, no matter what, he’ll get it: he’ll buy it, barter it, beg it, force it as a gift...
In a word, it would have been better not to show him such books. In addition to real books, he also collected graphomaniac literature: he had it on a separate shelf, which he proudly showed to his friends. Staying at home, little Julian found things to do for himself: he learned to count to ten in two hundred languages, collected stamps, then became interested in chemistry, organizing his own laboratory, almost blew up a house and took up alchemy.
Not foliage, not even the edges,
And transparent, slightly green
Piece of Celestial Yarn
Melts into the grove of astonishment.If there is somewhere in the world
Secret, forest sky,
Clouds that color
They come to us in the spring.
( April birch )
As a child, he was not at all perky and cheerful, as he seems to be from youthful humorous jokes, cabaret poems and songs. The atmosphere in the family was unhappy. The mother loved her not very “successful” son very much; the father, much older than her, was a bank employee, a very gloomy and joyless man who did not indulge his wife or children with attention.
Lodz was part of the Russian Empire and the boy was sent to a Russian gymnasium, but he studied very poorly, his diary is replete with deuces and failures, and in the sixth grade he was left for the second year. How can you not believe the words that in order to become a poet, you need to have a loving mother, do poorly at school and blow up your own house.
Poet, novelist and translator, born September 13, 1894 in Lodz, died December 27, 1953 in Zakopane.
He graduated from high school in Lodz (1914), studied law and philosophy at the University of Warsaw (1916-1918). He collaborated with the magazine “Pola esperantisimo” (1911-1914), in which he published his translations of Polish poems into Esperanto. Tuwim made his debut as a poet in 1913 with the poem “Request” (published in the newspaper “Kurier Warszawski”). Since 1915, he was engaged in translations from Russian, and also collaborated with the Lodz cabarets “Bi-ba-bo” and “Nowości”, as well as with the Urania Theater; in 1916-1919. ‒ with the Warsaw student magazine “Pro arte et studio”.
In 1918, Tuwim became one of the founders of the literary cabaret "Pikador", and then the creator and main representative of the poetic group "Scamander", a regular contributor to the monthly "Scamander" (1920-1928, 1935-1939) and the weekly "Literary News" ("Wiadomości" Literackie") (since 1924). He published his works on the pages of such publications as “Zdrój” (1919), “Naród” (1920-1921), “Kurier Polski” (1920-1923) , "Pani" (1922-1925).
Author of many lyrics and songs (usually signed with pseudonyms) for the cabaret "Miraż" (1916-1919), "Czarny Kot" (1917-1919), "Argus" (1918), "Sfinks" (1918), "Qui Pro Quo" (1919-32), "Banda" (1932-1934), "Cyganeria" (from 1924), "Stara Banda" (1934-1935), "Cyrulik Warszawski" (1935-1939). He collaborated with the satirical magazines “The Barber of Warsaw” (“Cyrulik Warszawski”) (1926-1933) and “Szpilki” (1936-39), in addition, he published satirical texts on the pages of the newspaper “Illustrated Daily Courier” (“ Ilustrowany Kurier Codzienny") (1929-1933).
Together with Antoni Słonimski and Jan Lechon, he was involved in preparing the April Fool's supplement to the newspaper Kurier Polski (1920-1925), and together with him he also wrote political shops (1922-1930). Julian Tuwim, rep. FoKa / Forum Julian Tuvim, rap. FoKa / Forum In 1925-1926 together with Mieczyslaw Grydzewski and Antoni Borman, he published the illustrated magazine “To-To”.
Since 1927 he collaborated with Polish Radio (since 1935 he was artistic director of the humor department). Since 1934, he was a member of the editorial board of the monthly Szpargały. He was one of the founders of the Union of Theater Authors and Composers (ZAiKS), officially registered in 1921, and became a member of the board in 1932. Since 1920, he became a member of the Trade Union of Polish Writers, and was also a member of the PEN Club.
During World War II, Tuwim lived in exile - in Romania, France, Portugal and Brazil, from where he came to New York in 1942. In 1939-1941 he collaborated with the emigrant weekly “Polish News” (“Wiadomości Polskie”), but stopped collaborating with it due to differences in attitude towards the USSR.
In 1942-1946. collaborated with the London-based monthly Nowa Polska and with the left-wing press of American Polonia. Since 1942, he was associated with the leftist group in the Polish section of the International Labor Association. He was a member of the Circle of Polish Writers (in 1943 – a member of the board).
In June 1946 he returned to his homeland and settled in Warsaw. He was engaged in literary, translation and editorial work. He published his works in the publications “Kuźnica” (1945-1946), “Renaissance” (“Odrodzenie”) (1945-1949), “Przekrój” (1945-1953), “Hairpins” (“Szpilki”) (1946-1953). In 1948-1949 he was artistic director, and in 1951 - head of the literary and dramatic department of the New Theater.
In 1948 he participated in the World Congress of Cultural Workers in Defense of Peace (Wroclaw). In 1949-1953. collaborated with the monthly “Problemy”, and from 1950 with the “New Culture” (“Nowa kultura”). Recognized with the Golden Laurels award from the Polish Academy of Literature for outstanding creative achievements (1935), the Literary Prize of the City of Lodz (1928 and 1949), the title of Doctor honoris causa of the University of Lodz, the Polish PEN Club Prize for translations of Pushkin (1935) and the State Prize (1951).
Never denying his Jewishness, Tuwim was very far from Jewish culture. Infrequent biblical reminiscences in his poetry (for example, “Rose of Sharon” or “Stars of the Holy Scripture” in the poem “Flowers of Poland”, see below) are only signs of universal civilization. The only poem devoted to a Jewish theme before World War II, “The Jew” (1927), depicts the city madman with sympathy and pain, but Tuwim is equally sensitive to the poor Christians.
Nevertheless, throughout his literary life, the poet was subjected to vicious (overt and disguised) anti-Semitic attacks by Polish chauvinists. Perhaps this determined Tuwim’s pro-communist position in exile during the war. Although Tuwim, unlike many Polish Jews, fled from the Nazis not to the Soviet Union, but to Romania, from where he moved first to France and then to the United States, he joined the so-called “progressive” camp of Polish emigrants, focused on the “Eastern” neighbor" of Poland.
The catastrophe of European Jewry and the death of loved ones shocked Tuwim. He continued to consider himself a Pole, but acutely felt his undivided belonging to the exterminated Jewish people. Evidence of a new sense of self was the poem “Mother” and especially the journalistic manifesto “We, Polish Jews” (both 1944). The manifesto asserted the poet’s kinship with the victims of the Holocaust “through Jewish blood - not the one that flows in the veins, but the one that flows from the veins.” Tuwim's passionate anti-Nazi journalism was translated into many languages and had a great resonance.
Excerpts from the manifesto in Russian were first given in the memoirs of I. Ehrenburg. To coincide with the 40th anniversary of the manifesto, a new edition of it was timed by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which included a facsimile of the manifesto in Polish, its translations into English, Hebrew and Yiddish, as well as the poem “The Jew” and the essay “Monument and Grave” (editor X Shmeruk). (c) http://www.eleven.co.il/article/14173 In exile, Tuwim wrote his largest work - the lyric-epic poem “Flowers of Poland” (unfinished edition - probably with censored notes - 1949). Returning to Poland in 1946, Tuwim was able to continue publishing his historical and literary anthologies (“Polish fantastic novella”, 1949; “Pegasus standing on end, or the Poetic panopticon”, 1950), translated from Russian, published “New collection of poems” ( 1953). Was awarded the State Prize (1951).
However, the ideological “cleansing” campaigns regularly carried out by the communist regime did not escape the poet. In one of the campaigns of the late 1940s. again anti-Semitic accusations were made against him. Tuwim responded with a sarcastic poem “Pedigree” (1949), revealing in it “compromising” information about the Jewish origin of the wife of one of his persecutors.
Tuwim's poetry was translated into many languages of the world and was highly valued in Eretz Israel. For the first time, Tuvim’s poem “Evening” translated into Hebrew was published in the magazine “Ha-Tkufa” (No. 9) in 1922. Tuvim’s poems were translated into Hebrew by A. Penn, B. Tomer and other poets. The collection entitled “Shirim” (“Poems”, T.-A.), translated by M. Tenenbaum, was published in 1946. Tuvim’s poems have repeatedly attracted the attention of composers (see, for example, M. Weinberg). Julian Tuwim, rep. Wojciech Kryński / Forum Julian Tuwim, rap. Wojciech Kryński / Forum In the early period of his creativity (collections “I am in wait for God”, 1918; “Dancing Socrates”, 1920; “The Seventh Autumn”, 1922; “The Fourth Volume of Poems”, 1923) Tuwim declared a rebellion against the poetic forms characteristic of Young Poland (decadent moods and linguistic manner), proclaiming optimism, vitalism, urbanism, which brought everyday life of the city into poetry.
He created the image of a new lyrical hero - a city dweller, and brought the poetic work closer to a living colloquial expression with its colloquialisms and vulgarisms. Tuwim often introduced genre scenes and conversations into his lyrics. Like all scamandrites, he sought to popularize lyrics and create a new model of its functioning, different from the previous one - the elite artistic one. In later years - starting with the collection “Words in the Blood” (1926) and further in the books “Black Forest” (1929), “The Gypsy Bible” (1932), ending with the collection “Burning Essence” (1936) in his work appear and intensify elements of bitterness, the poet turns to classical (Jan Kokhanovsky), romantic, Norwidian models.
The motif of anxiety is noticeable in both intimate and social poetry. At the same time, an increasingly perfect mastery of form, masterful handling of language and image becomes - in combination with a love of tradition - the source of a unique poetic philosophy, which concentrates on the concept of the word-sign and its relationship to the designatum, leads into the circle of linguistic problems to the fabulous etymology of words, their "poetic alchemy".
A separate area of Tuwim’s activity is his complex and versatile satirical creativity, which he has been engaged in from the very beginning, since his poetic debut. It is extremely heterogeneous both in terms of genre and in terms of the nature of the works and the purposes for which they were written. Social satire was based on the denial of old behavioral models, which Tuwim considers a manifestation of backwardness, and showed a new model, the bearer of which was the liberal Warsaw intelligentsia.
As an author of political satire, Tuwim went through an evolution - from the denial of certain elements of political reality to the complete denial of the sanitary ruling elite, when in the thirties it began to adhere to increasingly right-wing views, approaching groups with an anti-Semitic and fascist program. Tuwim's greatest achievement in the field of satire is “A Ball at the Opera,” written in 1936, where the poet uses all his previous satirical experience, introducing elements of grotesque and expressionism. Julian Tuwim, rep. FoKa / Forum Julian Tuvim, rap. FoKa / Forum At the end of the interwar period, Tuwim wrote a lot for children, using his poetic skills, combining lyricism with humor (often absurdist), taking advantage of all the richness of language (“Steam Locomotive”, “Khobotovsky’s Elephant”, “Zosya-Samosya”).
During the war years, the poet worked on the lyric-epic poem “Flowers of Poland” (“Kwiaty polskie”), published in 1949, which refers to the tradition of romantic digressive poems, but only occasionally reaches the level of his pre-war lyrics. Tuwim’s work was extremely popular among readers and critics - in a 1935 Literary News poll “Who would you choose as a member of the Academy of Independents, if such an academy existed?” he took first place. He was literally attacked by young writers (especially from avant-garde circles), reproaching him for excessive sentimentalism and traditionalism, as well as, for completely different reasons, by antagonists from nationalist circles, who recalled his Jewish origin and expressed their indignation at Tuwim’s pacifist works, for example, “ To the generals" ("Do generałów") and "To the common man" ("Do prostego człowieka").
Tuwim also did a lot of translations, mainly from Russian. In particular, he translated “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” (1928, new version 1950), works by Pushkin (“The Bronze Horseman” 1931, the collection “Pushkin’s Lute” 1937), classical examples of Russian drama (for example, “The Inspector General” by Gogol 1929), lyrics by Lermontov, Mayakovsky, Blok, Pasternak and others (were published in a collection of translations “From Russian” in 3 volumes, 1954). Translated Horace, Walt Whitman, Henry Longfellow, Arthur Rimbaud.
Tuwim also collected materials about culture and customs. The result of his activities were the books “The Enchantments and Devils of Poland and the Reader of Black Books” (1923), “The Polish Dictionary of Drunkards and the Bacchic Anthology” (1935), and the three-volume cycle “Cicer cum caule, or Peas and Cabbage” (1958-63). His interest in the history of literature was reflected in the anthologies “Four Centuries of Polish Fraschka” (1937) with a foreword by Alexander Brückner, “Polish Fantastic Novella” (1949), prepared together with Juliusz Wiktor Gomulicki “The Book of Polish Poetry of the 19th Century” (in 3 vols. ., 1954), a collection of articles, illustrated with a large number of poetic experiments, “Pegasus on end, or the Poetic Panopticon” (1958), written together with Slonimsky, humoresques, satires, jokes and parodies in the absurdist style, published in the collection “In the Fog of the Absurd” (1958 ).
Creation:
“I am in wait for God” (“Czyhanie na Boga”), Warsaw 1918
“Dancing Socrates” (“Sokrates tańczący”), Warsaw 1920
"Hard-working bee. Information and encyclopedic calendar for 1921." (“Pracowita Pszczółka. Kalendarz encyklopedyczno-informacyjny na r. 1921”), with
“Seventh Autumn” (“Siódma jesień”), Warsaw 1922
“The fourth volume of poems” (“Wierszy tom czwarty”), Warsaw 1923
"Black mass. From the Satanic Cycle” (“Czarna Msza. Z cyklu satanistycznego”), Warsaw 1925
“A Thousand True Miracles” (“Tysiąc dziwów prawdziwych”), Warsaw 1925
“Words in Blood” (“Słowa we krwi”), Warsaw 1926
“Secrets of amulets and talismans” (“Tajemnice amuletów i talizmanów”), Warsaw 1926
“Political shop of the “Barber of Warsaw” (“Polityczna szopka Cyrulika Warszawskiego”), co-authors: Marian Hemar, Jan Lechon, Antoni Slonimski, Warsaw 1927 “Black Forest” (“Rzecz czarnoleska”), 1929
“Political shop” (“Szopka polityczna”), co-authors: Hemar, Lechon, Slonimsky, Warsaw 1930
“Political shop” (“Szopka polityczna”), co-authors: Hemar, Lechon, Slonimsky, Warsaw 1931
“Gypsy Bible” (“Biblia cygańska i inne wiersze”), Warsaw 1933
“Rhyme Fair” (“Jarmark rymów”), 1934
“Bal at the Opera” (“Bal w operze”, written in 1936, published in fragments in different editions, first complete edition: “Hairpins”, 1946; separate edition: Warsaw 1982)
“Burning Essence” (“Treść gorejąca”), Warsaw 1936
"Locomotive. Turnip. Bird Radio" (“Lokomotywa. Rzepka (według starej bajeczki). Ptasie radio”), Warsaw 1938
“About Pan Trulyalinski and other poems” (“O panu Tralalińskim i inne wierszyki”), Warsaw 1938
“Khobotovsky’s Elephant” (“Słoń Trąbalski”), Warsaw 1938
“Zosia Samosia and other poems” (“Zosia Samosia i inne wierszyki”), Warsaw 1938
“Flowers of Poland” (“Kwiaty polskie”), Warsaw 1949
“Cicer cum caule, or Peas and cabbage” (“Cicer cum caule, czyli Groch z kapustą”), Warsaw 1958
“Pegasus on end, or the Poetic Panopticon” (“Pegaz dęba, czyli panopticum poetyckie”), Warsaw 1958
“In the Fog of the Absurd” (“W oparach absurdu”), with
Selections: “Poems” (“Poezje”), Warsaw, Czytelnik 1956, afterword: Artur Miedzyrzecki “Selections” (“Wybór poezji”), Warsaw, PIW 1961, compiler: Antoni Słonimski
“Selected Poems” (“Wiersze wybrane”), Wrocław, Ossolineum 1964 – BN I no. 184
“Favorites” (“Wybór poezji”), Warsaw, Czytelnik 1965, compiler: R. Matuszewski
“Selected Poems” (“Poezje wybrane”), Warsaw, LSW 1968, compiler and author of the introduction: Yu.V. Gomulicki
“Collected Poems” (“Wiersze zebrane”), Warsaw, Czytelnik 1971, in 2 vols., editor: A. Kovalchikova “Collected Works” (“Pisma zebrane”), in 4 vols., Warsaw, Czytelnik 1986-1993 (edited : A. Kovalchikova, T. Yanushevsky, Y. Stradetsky, A. Balaker)
“New collection of poems” (“Nowy wybór poezji”), Warsaw, PIW 2002 (afterword and editor’s notes: Yu. V. Gomulicki)
Faculty of Polish Studies, University of Warsaw,
April 2003
Julian Tuwim
Julian Tuwim was initially not a children's poet at all, and he wrote for children only in the thirties. The initial period of his work is characterized by elegiac and even intimate motifs, but gradually, over time, the poet increasingly pays attention to the life of simple, ordinary people, sympathizes with their difficult life, as for example, in the poems “Need”, “Summer of the Poor”, “Poems about lost hope”, at the same time, the poet’s indignation is caused by the petty-bourgeois sentiments of people, such as “Physticians”, “July 14th”. Tuwim wrote a lot about the tasks of art and poetry - “Poetry”, “Word into blood”, “It is better to crush cobblestones”. In the 30s, the poet, together with other Polish writers, protested against the impending war, as for example, in the poem “To the Common Man.” So why did Julian Tuwim, a civilian poet, start writing for children? One day in 1927, Vladimir Mayakovsky, during his visit to Warsaw, stopped by Tuwim and in a casual conversation suggested that he try to write for children. Mayakovsky himself literally persuaded the poet, depicting to him the tempting prospects of a children's writer. And then, a few years later, Pan Trulyalinsky, Pan Malyutkin, the elephant Khobotovsky, and other characters were born. In just a short period of time, the poet wrote more than fifty poems for little children. And after the war, when Tuwim returned to Poland after long wanderings, all the Soviet children unanimously repeated:
What's happened? What's happened?
- The alphabet fell off the stove!..
- What happened to Aunt Valya?
- Her glasses are missing!..
It was in poetry for children that the poet tried to embody all his thoughts and aspirations, love for his homeland, for people, the desire to make life bright and beautiful. Poetry charges with optimism and cheerfulness. This is highly moral poetry, instilling in children a love for everything around them - people and nature. Tuvim helps the child “see” the world, highlighting in it what previously went unnoticed by the child. For example, his amazing, wonderful ABC, where each letter is a separate image, with its own unique shape: What happened? What's happened? Broke U's tail!
But, probably, the most popular is the poem “Steam Locomotive” (translated by M. Zhivov), where the main character is a locomotive, alive, huge, extraordinary “It stands, and it sniffles, and breathes steam.” The locomotive is like a hero, great, strong, who can do what only “a hundred strong men” could do. Tuwim's poetry is always not only fantasy and figurative, but also educational and educational. The kid will probably ask you why the locomotive is moving, and you will find the answer in the poem:
This steam drives him and pushes him.
This steam passes through the pipes to the pistons,
And the pistons set the wheels in motion -
Unfortunately, it is now almost impossible to find a separate translation of Tuwim’s book for children; all his poems are scattered among the books of famous poets, whose names we mentioned above. So, in the book of poems by S. Marshak you will probably come across an amazing poetic poem “The Table”, where the author glorifies the beauty of work, the love of work. Close to this theme is the poetic work “Everything for Everyone” translated by E. Blaginina:
So it turns out this way:
Everything we do is necessary.
So let's work
Honest, diligent and friendly.
Of course, the poet did not ignore the theme of nature. Nature is presented through the prism of a child’s perception. Thus, impressions, emotions, fears are combined into wonderful poetic images:
The wind was angry, it grew,
He whistles and jumps.
(“Frost”, trans. E. Blaginina.)
Y. Tuvim also paints pictures of his native nature in the poems “The Four Seasons” (translated by E. Tarakhovskaya), “Trees” (translated by E. Tarakhovskaya), “Rain” (translated by E. Blaginina), etc.
In his poetry one can feel boundless love and tenderness for children; the poet carefully, without malice and sarcastic hints, so as not to hurt children’s painful pride and fragile psyche, teases children’s vices, gently points out their shortcomings. His poetry really educates and guides children in this world, unobtrusively, sometimes with humor, telling what is good and what is bad. There are countless examples that can be cited, but, probably, “Zosya-Samosya” (translated by V. Ilyina) - a symbol of childish conceit: And Zosya’s mother asked:
- Who is stupid, my daughter?
Zosia doesn’t care what they ask,
He answers importantly: “I am!”
And the poem “About Grishka the Liar and His Aunt” (translated by E. Blaginina), where the boy tells his aunt in detail about how he went to throw away a letter that his aunt allegedly asked him to throw in the mailbox, and in the finale the aunt says:
Sweet, nephew, sweet!
I didn't give you a letter.
Oh, what a liar you are, Grishka,
What a liar!
Try to find his poems at least among second-hand books. Your child will certainly appreciate and love them, because more than one generation has grown up with the poetry of Julian Tuwim.
About Mr. Trulyalinsky
Who hasn't heard of the artist
Tralislav Trulyalinsky!
And he lives in Pripevaisk,
In Veselinsky Lane.
With him is his aunt - Tweedledee,
And my daughter - Tweedledee,
And my little son - Tweedledee,
And the dog - Tweedledee.
They also have a kitten
Nicknamed Tweedledum,
And in addition, a parrot -
Cheerful Tweedledee!
At dawn they rise,
They'll drink tea soon,
And the whole company meets
Early morning with a ringing song.
Tweedled wand
The conductor will raise -
And immediately upon order
A friendly chorus will begin to sing:
"Tru-la-la yes tru-la-la!
Tra-la-la yes tra-la-la!
Honor and glory to Tralislaw!
Praise be to Trulyalinsky!"
Trulyalinsky is almost dancing
Waves the conductor's baton
And, wiggling his mustache, he sings along:
"Tru-la-la!"
"Tru-la-la!" - sounds already
In the yard and in the garage,
And a passing pedestrian
Sings the same song
All drivers are Tweedleders,
Postmen - Tweedledums,
Football players - Tweedled players,
Saleswomen - Tweedledums,
Musicians - Tweedledums,
And the students are Tweedledums,
The teacher himself is a Tweedledee,
And the guys are Tweedledums!
Even mice, even flies
They sing: “Tweedledums!”
All the people in Pripevaisk
He lives happily ever after.
ABC
What's happened? What's happened?
The alphabet fell off the stove!
Painfully sprained my leg
Capital letter M,
G hit a little
It completely fell apart!
Lost the letter U
Your crossbar!
Finding myself on the floor
Broke U's tail.
F, poor thing, it’s so swollen -
No way to read it!
The letter P is turned upside down -
Turned into a soft sign!
The letter C has completely closed -
Turned into the letter O.
Letter A, when I woke up,
I didn't recognize anyone!
Where are the glasses?
What happened to Aunt Valya?
- Her glasses are missing!
The poor old lady is looking for
Behind the pillow, under the pillow,
I climbed with my head
Under the mattress, under the blanket,
I looked into the buckets, into the jars,
In boots, felt boots, boots,
Turned everything upside down
I sat and rested,
She sighed and grumbled
And I went to look first.
Feeling under the pillow again,
He looks behind the tub again.
I lit a candle in the kitchen,
She climbed into the stove with a candle,
Searched the pantry -
All in vain! All for nothing!
Aunt Valya has no glasses -
Apparently they were stolen!
The old woman sat down on the chest.
There was a mirror hanging nearby.
And the old lady saw
Why was I looking for glasses in the wrong place?
What are they really?
They sat on her forehead.
So wonderful glass
Aunt Valya helped.
A confusing song about ducklings
Three ducklings on the way
Walking barefoot just before dawn:
The first one is thick
The third one is thin
And there is simply no second one.
And towards three ducklings
The other two hurry in a crowd:
Gray is the first
In spots - the fifth,
And the thirteenth one is pockmarked.
So they met at the grove,
And the seventh said:
"Hello!
Hello, fat one!
Hello skinny!
Is there someone missing?”
The third grunted:
“What kind of jokes?
Which of us has disappeared again?
No way without mommy duck
Can’t we count ourselves?”
Here the ninth with the first became
Cry and sob loudly:
"We first
The three of us ran
And now there are only five of us.”
And then the fifth whined:
“I don’t know what’s wrong with me:
Came out third
I was in thirtieth
And now it’s quite the eighth?”
“How, brothers, can we be counted?
To count yourself?
"It's so easy
Get lost."
“Will you find me again?”
The ducklings wandered to their mother
Through the grove, straight,
And even though they weren’t
Geese,
Friend after friend
We walked
Single file.
About Janek
Janek lived in the world,
He was stupid.
If you want to know -
That's what he did.
He drew water with a sieve,
He taught the birds to fly,
He asked the blacksmith
Shoe the cat.
Seeing a mosquito
I took up the ax
He carried firewood into the forest,
And the apartment is dirty.
He built in winter
Ice house:
"There will be a dacha
It’s spring for me!”
On a hot summer afternoon
He was blowing in the sun.
The horse is tired
He carried out a chair.
Somehow he's fifty dollars
I paid it for a nickel.
It's easier to explain to you:
Janek was a fool!
Vegetables
The hostess came from the market one day,
The hostess brought home from the market:
Potatoes
Cabbage,
carrots,
Peas,
Parsley and beets.
Oh!.. Here the vegetables started a dispute on the table -
Who is better, tastier and more necessary on earth:
Potato?
Cabbage?
Carrot?
Peas?
Parsley or beets?
Oh!.. Meanwhile the hostess took the knife
And with this knife she began to chop:
Potatoes
Cabbage,
carrots,
Peas,
Parsley and beets.
Oh!.. Covered with a lid, in a stuffy pot
Boiled, boiled in boiling water:
Potato,
Cabbage,
Carrot,
Peas,
Parsley and beets.
Oh!..
And the vegetable soup turned out to be not bad!
Bird radio
Attention! Attention!
Today at five o'clock
Today to our studio
(Attention attention!)
Different birds will flock to the radio meeting!
Firstly, on the question:
When, at what time
Is it more convenient and profitable to use dew?
The second question is long overdue:
What is an "echo"?
And if there is it in the forest,
Where is it hiding?
On the third question
Drozd reports,
Appointed to manage
repairing bird nests.
Then the debate begins:
And whistling, and creaking, and singing,
Rumbling and squealing,
And chirping and chirping.
Performances will begin
Starlings, goldfinches, tits
And everyone without exception
Other famous birds.
Attention! Attention!
Today at five o'clock
The station will work for groves and forests!
Our receiver at five o'clock
Received a hundred votes:
"Fiur-fiur! Fu-fu-fuo!
Tick-tweet! Tew-tew-tew-tew!
Pew Pew! Tsvir-tsvir-tsvir!
Chivi-chivi! Tyr-tyr-tyr!
Sleep, sleep, sleep! Lu-lu! Tsik-tsik!
Shadow-shadow-shadow! Chu-ik! Chu-ik!
Ko-ko-ko! Cuckoo! Cuckoo!
Gur-gur-gur! Ku-ka-riku!
Ka-arr! Ka-arr! Pi-it! Drink!.."
We didn't know what to do!
Obviously at this hour
The transfer is not for us!
River
Like a shiny ribbon
The river flows
Real.
And the day flows
And it flows at night -
Turn right
Turn left.
And the water in the river is freezing,
Grumpy near the shores,
And in the middle is lazy.
Why should she grumble, river water?
No one will say this anywhere.
Perhaps stones and fish
You could say this
But the fish are silent
And the stones are silent,
Like fish.
Table
A tree grew in our Polesie,
Stately, tall - up to the skies.
The boys had to work a lot,
Before the tree fell to the ground.
Good horses in foam and soap
They dragged him to the sawmill.
The saws cut it into planks,
The teeth bent on its hard trunk.
The boards and planks were rough.
They were hired by a carpenter from Warsaw.
Experienced master Adam Wisniewski
Handles planes, saws, chisels.
For a long time he planed, glued, drilled,
Before this glorious table celebrated.
That's how much difficult work is needed,
May your honor sit at the table!