LITERATURE: Blog about Galaktion Tabidze

A site with poems written by Galaktion Tabidze. All translations are by Christopher Michel.

Who Was Galaktion Tabidze?

Born in 1891, in the Republic of Georgia, Galaktion Tabidze was a major Georgian poet in the early 20th century. Because he chose to write in his native language and not Russian, French or English, he is largely unknown. However he is justly famous among Georgian speaking peoples. Much of his work was written during periods of strictly enforced censorship that demanded highly patriotic and communistic themes. Yet Tabidze, who watched many of his contemporaries (including his wife) disappear into the gulags to die, managed to weave a rich number of topics into his poems, including local folklore, loss and regret, bitterness, love and even insanity. Influenced by Baudelaire, Poe and the Symbolists, he stands alongside Rilke, Yeats and Apollinaire as one of the great poets of his age.

This site is intended as a static collection of translations of just a few of Tabidze's work. Unfortunately, they do not live up to the grace of the originals. Hopefully, however, they will give you a feel for some of what Tabidze was doing, both musically and thematically. Please feel free to browse, and leave comments. I have attached links to Georgian versions of the poems, in .pdf format, so that they will be readable even if you don't have the fonts installed on your computer. For more information on Galaktion Tabidze and Georgian literature, I highly recommend Donald Rayfield's history of Georgian Literature.

more here: galaktiontabidze.blogspot.de