Some writers call the twentieth century the heyday of poetry. Many tried and tried to write poetry, but only a few achieved a decent result. Arseny Tarkovsky is named among them.
Starting conditions
Fate wanted Arseny Alexandrovich Tarkovsky to join literary pursuits from an early age. The future Soviet poet and translator was born on June 25, 1907 in the family of an employee and became the second son in the house. Parents at that time lived in Ukraine, in the city of Elisavetgrad. His father, descended from impoverished Polish nobles, served as an official in the Public Bank and, at the same time as his main job, collaborated with local newspapers. Mother, Romanian by nationality, taught Russian at school, was engaged in housekeeping and raising children.
The father attended literary studio classes and often took his sons with him. Eminent poets from Moscow regularly came to the city. Arseny attended with interest the creative evenings of Fyodor Sologub, Igor Severyanin, Konstantin Balmont and other guests from the capital. It is not surprising that the boy read a lot and began to write poetry himself. Tarkovsky studied well at school. His favorite subjects were history and literature. After graduating from a seven-year school, he went to Moscow, to his relatives, and entered the State literary courses at the Union of Poets.
Creative career
During his student years, Tarkovsky regularly communicated with Georgy Shengeli, who taught at the courses. On the advice of his senior comrade, Arseny began to translate poems of poets from the Caucasus, from Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and other republics of the Soviet Union. For several years he collaborated with the editorial offices of the newspaper "Gudok" and the magazine "Projector". He wrote plays and other texts for the All-Union Radio. In the mid-1930s, several collections of Tarkovsky's poetic translations were published. In 1940 he was admitted to the Union of Writers of the USSR.
During the war, Arseny Aleksandrovich served in the editorial office of the army newspaper "Battle Alarm". He also had to participate in clashes with the enemy. Tarkovsky was awarded the Orders of the Patriotic War and the Red Star. In one of the battles, the correspondent was seriously wounded, after which the captain's guard was demobilized to civilian life. Returning to his desk, Tarkovsky continued to engage in literary work. The readers knew him well as a translator. The first collection of his own poems entitled "Before the Snow" was released only in 1962.
Recognition and privacy
The creative activity of Arseny Tarkovsky was highly appreciated. The poet was awarded the Orders of the Red Banner of Labor and Friendship of Peoples. For his great contribution to the development of friendship between peoples, the poet was awarded the USSR State Prize.
Arseny Tarkovsky's personal life cannot be called smooth. He entered into legal marriage three times. The first family had a son and a daughter. The son, Andrei Tarkovsky, became a famous film director. Daughter Marina is a writer. The poet died in May 1989 after a long illness.
