Robert Rozhdestvensky

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Robert Ivanovich Rozhdestvenski (Russian: Роберт Иванович Рождественский; * June 20, 1932 - † August 19/20, 1994) was a Russian poet who in 1950's and 60's broke with Social Realism and, along with poets such as Voznesensky, Yevtushenko and Akhmadulina, pioneered a newer, fresher, and freer poetry in Soviet Union.

[edit] Life

Robert Rozhdestvensky was born to a military family in a village Kosikha in the Altai Krai on June 20, 1932. Following the outbreak of World War II, with both parents in the army, he found himself in the orphanage. After graduating high school, he attentded Petrozavodsk University, where he began writing poetry (the first ones were published in 1950). He quit the University in order to attend Maxim Gorky Literature Institute, which he finished in 1956.

In the time of the Khrushchev Thaw he worked along side Voznesensky, Yevtushenko, and Akhmadulina. They broke with the Social Realism, and wrote emotional, lyric poems. Despite this, Rozhdestvenski was always careful not to criticize the government, and thus remained in official favor through the 60's and 70's, even being awarded the Lenin Prize in 1979.

Rozhdestvensky died on August 19, 1994 in Peredelkino.