Two early religious poems. 1902

Zinaida Nikolayevna Gippius (1869-1945)
Two early religious poems. 1902
Autograph manuscript, two poems, 'Muchenitsa' ('Martyr') and Belaya odezhda' ('White clothes'), n.p., 3 and 17 January 1902.

In Russian. Titles and 28 lines on two pages, 209 x 159mm, fair copies. Provenance: from a notebook retained by Gippius's sister, Tatiana (1877-1957) – Leonid Konstantinovich Dolgopolov (1928-1995, scholar of Russian modernism) – Vasily Molodyakov (historian, b.1968: information from a letter by Molodyakov, 2001).

Belaya odezhda

On ispytuyet — otdaleniyem,
Ya prinimayu ispytaniye.
Ya prinimayu so smireniyem
Yego lyubov', — Yego molchaniye.
...

I otdayu ya dushu smeluyu
Moye stradan'ye Sotvorivshemu.
Skazal Gospod': «Odezhdu beluyu
Ya posylayu — pobedivshemu».

Two early religious poems. 'I am taking a test. / I accept with humility / His love ... I give my brave soul / And my suffering to the Creator. / The Lord said "White clothes / I send — to the victor"'.

Both poems are highly representative of the intensity and religious focus of Gippius's early poems: 'White clothes' in particular sums up the four elements – love and death, man and God – which characterise her lyrics at this period. The present manuscripts, from a notebook retained by her sister, predate the publication of the poems in her first collection in 1904.

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