Pushkin pronunciation question??

[Andy Hicks]

While I can't authoritatively discuss the e/io alternation, I can recommend
Brodsky's own reworking of "Ia vas liubil," where he follows the modern
pronunciation in rhyming "beznadezhno" with "vozmozhno," "slozhno," and
"drozh', no."  It is his sixth "Sonnet to Mary Stuart."  A little bit of
searching reveals that Alexander Zholkovsky treats both poems in his article
at http://www.usc.edu/dept/las/sll/rus/ess/bib52.htm, where they are
reproduced in parallel (and in cyrillic).

Since the poem is such an explicit takeoff on the classic Pushkin text, I
find that it's easy to get students talking about how it reacts to Pushkin
and how it embodies the changes in poetic practice over roughly a century
and a half.  Third-year students should definitely be able to get through it
with a little help.

Best,

Andy Hicks

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