The poetess composed her first poem at the age of 4:

The donkey stood on a stool,

The donkey ate his pill.

Finally a throat

He got a chill.

Probably ever since then, inspiration and the ability to see the world through the eyes of a child remained with Moritz forever. It's time to open the poetess's book, for example, “The Roof Was Driving Home” with wonderful illustrations by E. Antonenkov, which will provide a starting point for the manifestation of your child’s fantasy and imagination.

The amazing, fairy-tale world of Yunna Moritz, in some places even difficult for a child to perceive: with bouquets of cats, a pie composer, a carriage of hairstyles, fog in sour cream - will not leave either children or adults indifferent.

Yunna Moritz was born on June 2, 1937 in Kyiv. My father had a double higher education: engineering and law, he worked as an engineer on transport lines. Mother graduated from high school before the revolution, gave lessons in French and mathematics, worked in the arts, as a nurse in a hospital, and in other jobs, even as a woodcutter.

In the year Yunna was born, her father was arrested on a slanderous denunciation; a few months later he was found innocent; he returned, but quickly began to go blind. Her father’s blindness, according to the poetess, had an extraordinary impact on the development of her inner vision.

In 1941-45, mother, father, older sister and Yunna lived in Chelyabinsk, father worked at a military plant.

In 1954, she graduated from school in Kyiv and entered the correspondence department of the Faculty of Philology.

In 1955 she entered the full-time poetry department of the Literary Institute in Moscow and graduated in 1961.

In the summer - autumn of 1956, Yunna Moritz sailed in the Arctic on the icebreaker "Sedov" and was at many wintering grounds, including at Cape Zhelaniya, on Novaya Zemlya, in the area of ​​which the "non-peaceful atom" was tested.

In 1961, her first book, “Cape of Desire,” was published in Moscow.

Yunna Moritz’s second book, “The Vine,” was published in Moscow only 9 years later, in 1970.

In 1963, a poem for children was published in the magazine "Youth", where on this occasion a column "For younger brothers and sisters" appeared.

In the poetry of Yunna Moritz, the animal world is widely represented, which is so necessary for children at an early age. Goats, cows, goats, dolphins and, above all, the poetess’s adored cats: a fat cat, a crimson cat, and even a croaking cat. They are all kind, affectionate and sweet. The poetess could not do without charming dogs and puppies, who “sniff flowers and sing serenades,” work as a postman and in whom “forget-me-nots bloom in their souls and a clarinet plays in their stomach.”

The poetry of Yunna Moritz is unusually figurative. The images of animate food are amazing and beloved: “There were two fried eggs…”, food is magical, it can turn into clothes:

“The hat came from a tomato,

The tie came from a cucumber..."

("Wonderful Things")

Clothes are a separate character in Moritz’s work: boots “...drink water on the beach.” As in the work of any poet, Yunna Moritz has images that run through all her poetry. For example, the image of smoke (“House with a chimney”) that warms the sky in winter. This is a cheerful, tasty steam that puffs in a teapot, “... and sometimes sticks out of the nose like a question mark.” Abstract concepts materialize in the most bizarre way, for example, in the poem “So that we all fly and grow,” we learn that thoughts in a child’s head can grow, and if “bored in green melancholy...”, lazy, then

“... thoughts will turn sour,

And the wings will droop,

Like rags

In the depths of the sea."

It is interesting that all the heroes of Yunna Petrovna Moritz’s poems, animate and inanimate, behave like children. The characters exactly copy their behavior: they tumble, throw their socks under the closet, feel sad, fantasize, fool around, and act up. In every poem we feel the poetess’s boundless love for her characters, and for children in general. That is why the heroes are sweet and good-natured, mischievous and cheerful, unusual and even fantastic. Her poetry is governed by the laws of play, funny dreams, cheerful confusion, when you can invent anything you want, fantasize, compose unprecedented words, and go on merry journeys with the characters. The tireless thirst to make every day, every second a holiday, to extract all the colors, voices, smells, forces Yunna Moritz to create more and more new heroes.

You will not find edification or teaching in Yuna Moritz. A child has every right to be sad, create, fantasize, fool around, and be capricious. According to Yunna Petrovna, children need to be raised with love, sometimes pampered, “they need to be freed from all prohibitions that do not cause physical harm to them and those around them,” and the child should also know that he is entering the world of evil. With her work, the poetess may be trying to protect children from this world as much as possible. Moritz's language is always natural, devoid of any false pathos. Moritz's rhythmic and sometimes patently absurd poems have no age restrictions. The pleasure of reading them and a lot of laughter, even laughter, is guaranteed to everyone.

From 1970 to 1990, Yunna Moritz published books of lyrics: “The Vine”, “A Harsh Thread”, “In the Light of Life”, “The Third Eye”, “Favorites”, “Blue Fire”, “On This High Shore”, “In the Lair” vote". After that it was not published for 10 years.

“Face” (2000), “Thus” (2000,2001), “According to the law - hello to the postman” (2005, 2006) were published with the inclusion of pages of graphics and paintings, which, according to the poetess, are not illustrations, they are - such poems, in such a language.

I want to be! Not after, not in centuries,

Not by heart, not twice and not again,

Not in jokes or in diaries -

But only in the fullest sense of the word!

Y. Moritz

When someone hears the name of the poetess Yunna Moritz, then, of course, the first thing they remember is a melody from childhood: “To the sad moo, to the cheerful growl...” These famous poems of hers, “A Big Secret for a Small Company,” heard in distant childhood, we We will definitely repeat it not only to our children, but also to our grandchildren.

The amazing, fairy-tale world of Yunna Moritz, in some places even difficult for a child to perceive - with bouquets of cats, a pie composer, a carriage of hairstyles, fog in sour cream - will not leave either children or adults indifferent.

The animal world is widely represented in the poetry of Yunna Moritz. Goats, cows, goats, dolphins and, of course, the poetess’s adored cats: a fat cat, a crimson cat and even a croaking cat. They are all kind, affectionate and sweet. Moritz could not do without charming dogs and puppies, in whom “forget-me-nots bloom in their souls, a clarinet plays in their stomachs,” and they themselves “sniff flowers and sing serenades” and work as postmen.

Illustration for the poem by Yunna Moritz “Crimson Cat”

It is interesting that all the heroes of Yunna Petrovna Moritz’s poems, animate and inanimate, behave like children. The characters exactly copy their behavior: they tumble, throw their socks under the closet, feel sad, fantasize, fool around, and act up. In every poem we feel the poetess’s boundless love for her characters and for children in general. That is why the heroes are sweet and good-natured, mischievous and cheerful, unusual and even fantastic. Her poetry is governed by the laws of play, funny dreams, cheerful confusion, when you can invent anything you want, fantasize, compose unprecedented words, and go on merry journeys with the characters. The tireless thirst to make every day, every second a holiday, to extract all the colors, voices, smells, forces Yunna Moritz to create more and more new heroes.

You will not find any edification or teaching in Yuna Moritz: every child has every right to be capricious and fool around. According to Yunna Petrovna, children need to be raised with love, sometimes pampered, “they need to be freed from all prohibitions that do not cause physical harm to them and those around them,” and the child should also know that sooner or later he will have to face the world of evil. With her work, the poetess may be trying to protect children from this world as much as possible in principle.

Moritz's language is always natural, devoid of any false pathos. Moritz's rhythmic and sometimes patently absurd poems have no age restrictions. The pleasure of reading them and a lot of laughter are guaranteed to everyone.

But we should not forget that, in addition to children's poems, she also wrote adult literature. Yunna Moritz published the books “The Vine”, “A Harsh Thread”, “In the Light of Life”, “The Third Eye”, “Favorites”, “Blue Fire”, “On This High Shore”, “In the Lair of a Voice”, “Face” , “Thus”, “According to the law - hello to the postman.” All of them included elements of graphics and painting, which, according to the poetess, are not illustrations: these are poems in a special language.

But, of course, in the hearts of each of us, Yunna Moritz will remain the author of wonderful poems about the “rubber hedgehog” and “a big secret for a small company.” Her poetry is a special world that cannot be expressed in words or brought to certain standards. All this would be useless and banal, just as it is banal to list the topics to which her poems are devoted: life, death, love, creativity. What poet doesn't write about this? Many people write. But each in his own way.

Text: Marina Latysheva

"AND IT WAS LIGHT FOR ME ON THE BLACK LISTS..."
(very short biography - by popular demand)

As a rule, bare numbers of dates cover up the main circumstances.

Born on June 2, 1937 in Kyiv. My father had a double higher education: engineering and law, he worked as an engineer on transport lines. Mother graduated from high school before the revolution, gave lessons in French and mathematics, worked in the arts, as a nurse in a hospital, and in other jobs, even as a woodcutter.

In the year of my birth, my father was arrested on a slanderous denunciation, after several tortured months he was found innocent, he returned, but quickly began to go blind. My father's blindness had an enormous impact on the development of my inner vision.

In 1941-45, my mother, father, older sister and I lived in Chelyabinsk, my father worked at a military plant.

In 1954, I graduated from school in Kyiv and entered the correspondence department of the Faculty of Philology.

In 1955 she entered the full-time poetry department of the Literary Institute in Moscow and graduated in 1961.

In the summer - autumn of 1956, I sailed around the Arctic on the icebreaker "Sedov" and visited many wintering grounds, including Cape Zhelaniya, on Novaya Zemlya, in the area of ​​which the "non-peaceful atom" was tested. The people of the Arctic, winterers, pilots, sailors, their way of life, work (including scientific work), the laws of the Arctic community influenced my 19-year-old personality so much that I was very quickly expelled from the Literary Institute for “increasing unhealthy moods in creativity” and published a huge devastating article in Izvestia signed by V. Zhuravlev, who later became famous for publishing poems by Anna Akhmatova in the same Izvestia, signing them with his own name and making minor corrections to them.

In 1961, my first book, “Cape Zhelaniya” (no romantic “desires”!.. purely geographical name of the cape on Novaya Zemlya), was published in Moscow - Nikolai Tikhonov got the book into print, when once again I was accused of - not ours, not a Soviet poet, whose talent is especially harmful because it strongly and vividly affects the reader in the spirit of the West.

My second book, “The Vine,” was published in Moscow 9 years later, in 1970, because I was blacklisted for the poems “In Memory of Titian Tabidze,” written in 1962. I am convinced that all the “black lists” in the department of literature, always and now, are composed by some writers against others, because repression is a very profitable business.

Due to the fact that my poems for children were not yet known to anyone and therefore were not banned, in 1963 I was able to publish a bunch of poems for children in the magazine “Youth”, where on this occasion a column “For younger brothers and sisters” appeared. The reader instantly paid me with love.

Being engaged in the poetics of personality, the languages ​​of fine art and the philosophy of the poetic world, I then received great pleasure from the fact that the “black lists” shone so brightly and only expanded the circle of loving readers.

From 1970 to 1990, I published books of lyrics: “The Vine”, “A Harsh Thread”, “In the Light of Life”, “The Third Eye”, “Favorites”, “Blue Fire”, “On This High Shore”, “In the Lair of a Voice” ". After that it was not published for 10 years.

“Face” (2000), “Thus” (2000,2001), “According to the law - hello to the postman” (2005, 2006) were published with the inclusion of pages of my graphics and paintings, which are not illustrations, these are poems, in that language.

For many years I was not allowed to go abroad, despite hundreds of invitations from international poetry festivals, forums, universities and the media - they were afraid that I would run away and thereby ruin international relations. But still, since 1985, I have had author’s evenings at all the famous international poetry festivals in London, Cambridge, Rotterdam, Toronto, Philadelphia. The poems have been translated into all major European languages, also into Japanese, Turkish, and Chinese.

Now those who were afraid that I would run away are afraid that I will not run away, but will write more than one “Star of Serbosty.” And let them be afraid!..

A sloppy article appeared in Izvestia, and then in other newspapers, where they called me a State Prize laureate and did not apologize to the readers for this mistake. My awards are as follows: “Golden Rose” (Italy), “Triumph” (Russia), A.D. Sakharov (Russia).

My distant ancestors came to Russia from Spain, and along the way they lived in Germany.

I believe in the Creator of the Universes, in beginninglessness and infinity, in the immortality of the soul. I have never been an atheist and have never been a member of any religious community.

Many sites that publish lists of Masons in Russia have given me the honor of being on these lists. But I'm not a Mason.

* * *

And on the black lists it was light for me,
And alone I had many children,
Angel's wing in a black square
The air became multi-colored to me.

Very old women, old men
I saw no disgusting age,
And with that depth, whose depths are deep -
Like secret knowledge, where the light is like spots.

From spots of light falling into spots of darkness,
I was covered in air with my eyes,
Reading the unforgettable psalms
According to the book of the stars, whose eyes are above us.

Flowed through me in waves, glowing
A space of rhythms that is much deeper than windows.
And on the black lists it was light for me,
And crowded in deep loneliness.

A star falls on Mtskheta

A star falls on Mtskheta.
Fiery hair crumbles,
Screaming with an inhuman voice
A star falls on Mtskheta.

Who authorized her execution?
And he gave this right to a cretin
Putting a star under the guillotine?
Who authorized her execution?

And he appointed death for August,
And did you round off your signature with a seal?
To execute a star - what meanness!
Who scheduled death for August?

War for you, plague for you,
The killer brought to the square
A star to kill like a horse!
War to you, plague to you!

A star falls on Mtskheta.
It no longer hurts her to break,
But Titian Tabidze is crying.
A star falls on Mtskheta.

-=-

One of the outstanding poets of our time can rightfully be called Yunna Moritz, whose work was and continues to be the very embodiment of sensitivity. Poems full of genuine perception of reality have been translated into many languages ​​of the world. The biography of the poetess is saturated with troubles brought by her very year of birth. However, none of the hardships of fate could break Yunna’s spirit. Having overcome everything that was destined for her by chance, Moritz found her true destiny and for many decades she has been delighting not only Russian audiences with her poems, but also foreign admirers. The years of ban on the publication of her work were compensated at a time when people gained freedom of speech and creativity.

Themes of Yunna Moritz's poems:

The directions in Moritz's work once again prove her undoubted talent. During the years of oppression, she develops as a children's poetess. Her poems, filled with instructions that are easy to understand for the younger generation, also surprise older individuals, many of whom leave their favorite lines in their memory and happily re-read them later. Moritz's lyrical works are performed in the best traditions of classical performance. Her poetic style does not allow pathos, giving preference to precise rhymes and allegories.