Цветаева Марина Ивановна

Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva is a Russian poet of the Silver Age, novelist, translator, playwright.

Early years and education

Born on September 26 (October 8) in 1892 in Moscow in a creative family: father — Ivan Vladimirovich Tsvetaev, professor at Moscow University, founder of the Museum of Fine Arts (now the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts); mother — Maria Alexandrovna Main, a talented pianist.
She started writing poetry at the age of 6, not only in Russian, but also in French and German.
She studied in Moscow (a private girls' gymnasium), then in boarding schools in Switzerland, Germany and France.
She studied piano, which influenced the musicality of her poems.

The beginning of a creative journey

1910 — published her first collection of poetry, The Evening Album, at her own expense. The book received positive reviews from Valery Bryusov, Maximilian Voloshin and Nikolai Gumilev.
1912 — published the second collection "The Magic Lantern".
1913 — the third collection of "Two books" was published.

Personal life

In 1912, she married Sergei Efron.
Three children were born in the family:

daughter Ariadne (Ala, 1912);
daughter Irina (died in 1920 at the age of three);
son George (Moore, 1925).
In 1914, she met the poet Sofia Parnok, to whom she dedicated a series of poems "Girlfriend".

The period of the Civil War (1917-1922)

She stayed in Moscow, going through difficult times of hunger and deprivation.
The work of this period is permeated with pain and sympathy; she created the cycles "Swan Camp" (dedicated to the White Movement) and "Craft".

Emigration (1922-1939)

In 1922, she went abroad, reuniting with her husband Sergei Efron. She has lived in Berlin, Prague, and Paris.
She created major poetic works: "Poem of the Mountain", "Poem of the End", "Poem of the Air".
The collection "After Russia" (1928) included poems from 1922-1925.
She was actively engaged in prose: she wrote memoirs about Maximilian Voloshin ("The Living about the Living", 1933), Andrei Bely ("The Captive Spirit", 1934), Mikhail Kuzmin ("A Strange Evening", 1936), Alexander Pushkin ("My Pushkin", 1937).
Despite her creative rise, she was in financial need and the feeling of alienation in the emigrant environment.

Return to the USSR (1939) and recent years

In 1939, she returned to the USSR after her husband and daughter Ariadna.
Shortly after returning:

Ariadne was arrested and sent to camps (rehabilitated after 15 years);
Sergei Efron was arrested and shot in 1941.
During this period, she almost did not write poetry, but was engaged in translations.
With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, she was evacuated to Yelabuga (Tatarstan).
On August 31, 1941, she committed suicide. She left three suicide notes for her son, friends, and those who would bury her.
She was buried at the Peter and Paul Cemetery in Yelabuga; the exact location of the grave is unknown.

Creative heritage and style features

The author of poignant, passionate and musical lyrics.
The main themes of creativity are love, loneliness, Homeland, destiny, creativity.
Famous poems:

"To my poems written so early..." (1913);
"I like that you are not sick of me..." (1915);
"How many of them have fallen into this abyss..." (1913);
"Who is made of stone, who is made of clay..." (1920).
She created a number of plays and memoir‑critical works.

Memory of Tsvetaeva

Marina Tsvetaeva's museums: in Moscow (on Sretenka Street), in Bolshev, Alexandrov (Vladimir region), Feodosia, Bashkortostan.
Monuments to the poetess have been erected in Tarusa (on the banks of the Oka River) and Odessa.