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Birth and early years
Osip Mandelstam, the son of wealthy Jewish parents, was born in Warsaw, on 3rd January, 1891. His father, a successful leather merchant, was able to receive a dispensation that enabled them to move to Saint Petersburg. -
First poems
His first poems were printed in 1907 in the school's almanac.He studied at the University of St. Petersburg, the Sorbonne in France, and the University of Heidelberg in Germany. -
The Acmeists
Mandelstam's poems also appeared in the journal Apollon in 1910. The following year he joined with Nikolai Gumilev and Sergey Gorodetsky to form the Guild of Poets. Formed as a reaction to the Symbolist movement, the Acmeists, as they became known, called for a return to the use of clear, precise and concrete imagery. -
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Important poems
His first volume of poetry, Stone, appeared in 1913. Mandelstam met Nadezhda Khazina in Kiev. in 1919. They married three years later. They moved to Petrograd in 1922 but later settled in Moscow. His books during this period included Tristia (1922), The Noise of Time (1925) and a collection of essays, The Egyptian Stamp (1928). Mandelstam also worked as a journalist. He also translated classic books into Russian. Osip Mandelstam was hostile to the Communist government. -
Poem on Stalin
Information on the epigram about StalinIn 1934 Mandelstam wrote an epigram about Stalin: His fingers are fat as grubs and the words, final as lead weights, fall from his lips... His cockroach whiskers leer and his boot tops gleam... the murderer and peasant slayer". It has been described as as a "sixteen line death sentence." Mandelstam was arrested and exiled to Cherdyn -
Awful years
Mandelstam was allowed to return to Moscow in May, 1937. During the Great Purge, Mandelstam was attacked for his unwillingness to adopt Socialist Realism and he was accused of holding anti-Soviet views -
Death
In 1938 he was arrested and and charged with "counter-revolutionary activities" and was sentenced to five years in correction camps. He wrote to his wife: "My health is very bad, I'm extremely exhausted and thin, almost unrecognizable, but I don't know whether there's any sense in sending clothes, food and money. You can try, all the same, I'm very cold without proper clothes." The Soviet government reported that Osip Mandelstam died at Vtoraya Rechka, on 27th December, 1938.
