[Glenn Wright]

Hi, Carl—

I was struck by the similarities between the Russian Acmeists and the (mostly) American Imagists. I compared Zenkevich’s poem to Amy Lowell’s “Summer Rain” and noted resemblances in style and language. Both schools seek to render experiences using accurate, precise, photographic images and language.

Zenkevich describes a moonlit night in the last weeks of summer when the differences in night and day temperatures produce equinoctial electrical storms. This night the full moon illuminates the fields and the few wispy cirrus clouds portending coming storms in an otherwise clear sky. Occasional flashes of what is called “heat lightning” or “sheet lightning” in the U.S. appear, producing glints of red on the undersurfaces of the clouds.

The only puzzle for me was in lines 9-10 in the Russian version. The word сгущая must be modifying зарница, but I am having difficulty seeing how the “lightning” is “thickening” the oppression/weight of the “milky night.” I assume the night is “milky” because of the whitish glow of moonlight. Could сгущая be used in the sense of “clotting” or “stopping the flow?”

In the last image, the practical, modest petticoats of the girl are compared to the whitish, unremarkable clouds tinged with silvery/milky moonlight. The occasional flash of lightning is like a shocking, scandalous bit of scarlet lingerie that she has sneaked into her underwear. I wondered (and please let me know if you think I’m way off base here) whether there was a suggestion of menstrual imagery here, too.
I’m basing this on the references to the moon, milk, scarlet, and female sexuality that permeate the poem.

Glenn