Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak (alternative spelling: Marchak) (russian: link=no, Самуил Яковлевич Маршак; 4 July 1964) was a Russian and Soviet writer of Jewish origin, translator and poet who wrote for both children and adults. He translated the sonnets and some other of the works of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

, English poetry (including poems for children), and poetry from other languages.

Maxim Gorky Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (russian: link=no, Алексе́й Макси́мович Пешко́в; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (russian: Макси́м Го́рький, link=no), was a Russian writer and social ...

proclaimed Marshak to be "the founder of Russia's (Soviet)

children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

Early years

Marshak was born to a Jewish family on 3 November 1887 in

Voronezh Voronezh ( rus, links=no, Воро́неж, p=vɐˈronʲɪʂ}) is a city and the administrative centre of Voronezh Oblast in southwestern Russia straddling the Voronezh River, located from where it flows into the Don River. The city sits on the ...

.''Samuil Marshak.'' An anthology of Jewish-Russian literature. Maxim Shrayer. p. 192. (M.E. Sharpe February 15, 2007
Google Books
/ref> His father was a foreman at a soap-making plant. He had a good home education and later studied at the gymnasium (secondary school) of Ostrogozhsk, a suburb of Voronezh. He started to write poetry during his childhood years in Voronezh. His brother Ilya (who wrote under the pseudonym M. Ilin) (1896—1953) and sister Liya (who wrote as Elena Ilina) (1901—1964) also both became Soviet authors. In 1902, the Marshak family moved to Saint Petersburg. There was a complication: as a Jew, Marshak could not legally live outside the Pale of Settlement, thus he could not attend school while living in the city. Philanthropist and scholar Baron David Günzburg took an interest in Marshak and introduced him to the influential critic

Vladimir Stasov Vladimir Vasilievich Stasov (also Stassov; rus, Влади́мир Васи́льевич Ста́сов; 14 January Adoption_of_the_Gregorian_calendar#Adoption_in_Eastern_Europe.html" ;"title="/nowiki> O.S._2_January.html" ;"title="Adoption of ...

. Stasov was so impressed by the schoolboy's literary talent that he arranged an exception from the Pale laws for Samuil and his family. He also introduced Marshak to

and Feodor Chaliapin.''115th birth anniversary of famous poet and translator Samuil Marshak.'' RIA Novosti. November 03, 2002. In 1904, Samuil was diagnosed with

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

and could no longer continue to live in the cold climate of Saint Petersburg. Maxim Gorky arranged for Samuil to live with his family in the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

resort town of

Yalta Yalta (: Я́лта) is a resort city on the south coast of the Crimean Peninsula surrounded by the Black Sea. It serves as the administrative center of Yalta Municipality, one of the regions within Crimea. Yalta, along with the rest of Crimea ...

(1904–1907). Gorky and Chaliapin also paid for his education and therapy. However, he spent much of this period in Kerch, living with the Fremerman family.

Young poet, philosopher and translator

In 1904, he published his first works in the magazine ''Jewish Life'' and in the mid- to late 1900s, Marshak created a body of Zionist verse, some of which appeared in such periodicals as ''Young Judea''. In 1907 he returned to Saint Petersburg and subsequently published numerous works in the popular magazine ''Satyricon''. Marshak failed to gain admission at a university in Russia due to 'political insecurity' and earned his living giving lessons and writing for magazines. From his first trip to the Middle East he brought back many impressions, poems and a beautiful wife. In 1912 he moved to England and studied philosophy at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. He fell in love with English culture and with poetry written in English. In his senior year at the University he published his translations of the poems written by

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...

, Robert Burns and

William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's ' ...

, published in Russia. His 1913 visit to an experimental "free" school in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

(led by the Tolstoyan Philip Oyler) is noted as the event that sparked his professional interest in children. Shortly before

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, in 1914, he returned to Russia and devoted himself to translation.

Children's poetry

In 1914 Marshak and his wife worked with children of Jewish refugees in Voronezh. The death of Marshak's young daughter in 1915 directed him toward children's literature. In 1920 he moved to Yekaterinodar (now

Krasnodar Krasnodar (; rus, Краснода́р, p=krəsnɐˈdar; ady, Краснодар), formerly Yekaterinodar (until 1920), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The city stands on the Kuban River in southern ...

) to head the province's orphanages and it was there that he and a group of enthusiasts, including Yelena Vasilyeva, organized ''Children's town'' that included a children's theater, library, and studios. For this theater, he co-wrote plays that later became the book ''Theater for Children''. In 1922, Marshak moved back to what was then Petrograd to become the head of the Children's Literature Studio. He published the following works at the Raduga (Радуга; in English, "rainbow") publishing house: ''Детки в клетке'' (''Kids in a cage''), ''Пожар'' (''Fire'') 1923, ''Сказка о глупом мышонке'' (''The Tale of a Silly Mouse''), ''Синяя птица'' (''Blue bird''), ''Цирк'' (''Circus''), ''Мороженое'' (''Ice Cream''), ''Вчера и сегодня»'' (''Yesterday and today'') 1925, ''Багаж'' (''Luggage'') 1926, ''Пудель'' (''Poodle''), ''Почта'' (''Post Office'') 1927, and ''Вот какой рассеянный'' (''What an absent-minded guy'') 1930. Marshak had a prolific career in children's literature. Soviet critic Viktor Shklovsky wrote that "Samuil Marshak understood that many new writers would appear in the new Soviet republic. He stood at the door of literature, a benevolent angel, armed not with a sword or with a pencil, but with words on work and inspiration." Marshak's contributions to the field of children's literature was not just limited to his own writings. In 1924, he became the head of the children's branch of the state publishing house Gosizdat (GIZ), a position he held for over a decade. Through his role as editor, Marshak attracted some of Russia's best writers to try their hand at writing for children, including Evgeny Schwartz and OBERIU member Daniil Kharms.

Translations

Among his Russian translations there are

's sonnets and songs from Shakespeare's plays, ''

The Merry Wives of Windsor ''The Merry Wives of Windsor'' or ''Sir John Falstaff and the Merry Wives of Windsor'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare first published in 1602, though believed to have been written in or before 1597. The Windsor of the play's title is a ref ...

'' (together with Mikhail Morozov, who translated prosaic scenes), poems of Robert Burns,

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...

Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 17928 July 1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame during his lifetime, but recognition of his achie ...

John Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculo ...

Alfred, Lord Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...

Robert Browning Robert Browning (7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentary, historical settings ...

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...

W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

Edward Lear Edward Lear (12 May 1812 – 29 January 1888) was an English artist, illustrator, musician, author and poet, who is known mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose and especially his limerick (poetry), limericks, a form he popularised. ...

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequel ...

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biogr ...

, A. A. Milne, English and Scottish folk ballads, poems from

Nursery rhyme A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and many other countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. From t ...

s. Besides English poetry, he translated poems of

Heinrich Heine Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was a German poet, writer and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of '' Lied ...

, Sándor Petőfi, Gianni Rodari and Hovhannes Tumanyan. His main work in this area is translation of Shakespeare's sonnets (1948). This translation has enjoyed great success over the years. Some Shakespeare sonnets in Marshak's translation have been set to music (in classical style by

Dmitry Kabalevsky Dmitry Borisovich Kabalevsky (russian: Дми́трий Бори́сович Кабале́вский ; 14 February 1987) was a Soviet composer, conductor, pianist and pedagogue of Russian gentry descent. He helped set up the Union of Soviet Co ...

, in pop style by

Tikhon Khrennikov Tikhon Nikolayevich Khrennikov (russian: Тихон Николаевич Хренников; – 14 August 2007) was a Russian and Soviet composer, pianist, and General Secretary of the Union of Soviet Composers (1948–1991), who was also known ...

Mikael Tariverdiev Mikael Leonovich Tariverdiev (russian: Микаэл Леонович Таривердиев, hy, Միքայել Թարիվերդիև; 15 August 1931 – 25 July 1996) was a prominent Soviet composer of Armenian descent. He headed the Composers' G ...

, Alla Pugacheva and others, even in rock style —

Cruise A cruise is any travel on a cruise ship. Cruise or Cruises may also refer to: Tourism * Booze cruise * Music cruise * River cruise Aeronautics and aircraft * Cruise (aeronautics), a distinct stage of an aircraft's flight * Aviasouz Cruise, a R ...

). His translations are considered classics in Russia. But many of Marshak's poetic translations became so entrenched in Russian culture, that it was often quipped that he was not so much a translator as a co-author.

Later years

In 1937 Marshak moved to

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, where he worked on children's books and translations. Composer

Galina Konstantinovna Smirnova Galina Konstantinovna Smirnova (January 20, 1910 - 1980) was a Russian composer, musicologist, and radio music editor who used folk songs in her compositions and composed at least one film score. Smirnova was born in Moscow. She studied at the Mo ...

set some of his work to music. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he published satires against the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

. After the war he continued to publish children's books including: ''Разноцветная книга'' (''Multicolored book'') 1948, ''Круглый год'' (''All year round'') 1948, ''Тихая сказка'' (''A Quiet tale'') 1956, etc. In the last years of his life, he wrote aphoristic verses that he named ''lyrical epigrams''. They were published in his last book, ''Selected Lyrics'' (Избранная Лирика) in 1963. He also published three tale plays: ''The Twelve Months'' 1943, ''Afraid of Troubles - Cannot Have Luck'' 1962, and ''Smart Things'' 1964. Although not widely known, in the Soviet era, Marshak was on a (political) razor's edge and barely escaped death in 1937. His name was often mentioned in the documents of the eliminated Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee. However, the process of the committee ended in August 1952 (12 executed and 98 subjected to repression) and Marshak was not accused. In 1953 with the death of

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

and the onset of

Khrushchev Thaw The Khrushchev Thaw ( rus, хрущёвская о́ттепель, r=khrushchovskaya ottepel, p=xrʊˈɕːɵfskəjə ˈotʲ:ɪpʲɪlʲ or simply ''ottepel'')William Taubman, Khrushchev: The Man and His Era, London: Free Press, 2004 is the period ...

Marshak was out of danger. There is an opinion that Stalin's death saved Marshak from inevitable death in the period of the fight against cosmopolitism. Samuil Marshak died on 4 July 1964 and was buried in Moscow.

Honours and awards

* Four Stalin Prizes: :second class (1942) – a poetic text to posters and cartoons :second class (1946) – for the play-tale "Twelve Months" (1943) :second class (1949) – translations of sonnets by William Shakespeare :first class (1951) – a collection of "Verses for Children" * Lenin Prize (1963) – for the book "Selected poetry for children" (1962) and children's books: "A quiet tale", "Big pocket", "The Adventure of the road", "Calm down", "From one to ten", "Vaks Blob", "Who can find a ring", "Merry journey from A to Z". * Two Orders of Lenin, incl 1939 *

Order of the Patriotic War The Order of the Patriotic War (russian: Орден Отечественной войны, Orden Otechestvennoy voiny) is a Soviet military decoration that was awarded to all soldiers in the Soviet armed forces, security troops, and to partisan ...

, 1st class (1945) *

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour (russian: Орден Трудового Красного Знамени, translit=Orden Trudovogo Krasnogo Znameni) was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to th ...

* Honorary president of Robert Burns World Federation (1960) * In 2012, his books were included in an exhibit at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

References

External links

Samuil Marshak poetry
a
Stihipoeta

Marshak's site

Biography of Marshak
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Marshak, Samuil 1887 births 1964 deaths 20th-century Russian male writers 20th-century Russian poets 20th-century Russian translators People from Voronezhsky Uyezd Writers from Voronezh Stalin Prize winners Lenin Prize winners Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Children's poets Jewish poets Russian children's writers Russian Jews Russian male dramatists and playwrights Russian male poets Russian male writers Russian translators Soviet children's writers Soviet dramatists and playwrights Soviet Jews Soviet male poets Soviet translators Translators from Hebrew Translators of William Shakespeare English–Russian translators Yiddish–Russian translators Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery 20th-century Russian Jews