Read the article and do the test
In school, Russians are forced to learn plenty of poems by heart, as it's supposed to help in training memory. School students even have special tests, when one has to recite a poem by heart in front of the whole class. A little stressful, but thanks to that, many adult Russians remember all these beautiful poems.
1. Ivan Krylov. "The Dragonfly & the Ant"
Krylov is one of Russia's main fabulists, who wrote more than 200 fables. Some of them are original, other fables are translations of well-known plots of Aesop and Lafontaine. He is supposed to be the best in the genre, only a few authors after him made attempts to succeed as fabulists.
2. Aleksander Pushkin. To *** (I still recall the wondrous moment...)
If you ask any Russian on the street who his favourite poet is, in most cases, they will answer: "Pushkin!" All schoolchildren in Russia learn his poems by heart. Many people remember such poems as "Winter Morning" and "Winter Evening" — or parts from the novel in verse, "Eugene Onegin", e.g. the beginning of the first chapter, or a letter from Tatyana.
But everyone remembers the main Russian love poem, "I still recall…", that Pushkin dedicated to his beloved Anna Kern.
By the way, the poem has been translated into more than 210 languages.
3. Mikhail Lermontov. "The Sail"
School students, as a rule, love Lermontov for his romanticism, and for the fact that many poems are quite... short!
4. Alexander Blok. "Night, street, lamp, drugstore..."
Many Russians have a poor knowledge of poets from the Silver Age. Usually, everyone has one favourite poet, whose poems he or she keeps in mind. However, everyone remembers this poem by Russia's main symbolist — Alexander Blok. And, probably, also thanks to some popular recent TV advertising.
5. Sergei Yesenin. "The Birch Tree"
It was Yesenin, the most Russian and most peasant of poets, who made the love of birch trees as a national symbol fashionable. He observed birch trees every day in his homeland — in the village of Konstantinovo in the Ryazan Region — and praised them, as well as rye fields and golden domes of churches.
© ANO "TV-Novosti"
Who wrote both original and interpreted stories?
- Ivan Krylov
- Aleksander Pushkin
- Mikhail Lermontov
- Alexander Blok
- Sergei Yesenin
Whose poems are both romantic and short?
- Ivan Krylov's
- Aleksander Pushkin's
- Mikhail Lermontov's
- Alexander Blok's
- Sergei Yesenin's
Who is well-known for admiring Russian nature?
- Ivan Krylov
- Aleksander Pushkin
- Mikhail Lermontov
- Alexander Blok
- Sergei Yesenin
Who devoted a poem to the woman he loved?
- Ivan Krylov
- Aleksandr Pushkin
- Mikhail Lermontov
- Alexander Blok
- Sergei Yesenin
Whose poem became popular thanks to the mass media?
- Ivan Krylov's
- Aleksander Pushkin's
- Mikhail Lermontov's
- Alexander Blok's
- Sergei Yesenin's
Whose poem has been translated into hundreds of languages?
- Ivan Krylov's
- Aleksander Pushkin's
- Mikhail Lermontov's
- Alexander Blok's
- Sergei Yesenin's
Who has become the most successful author in one particular genre?
- Ivan Krylov
- Aleksander Pushkin
- Mikhail Lermontov
- Alexander Blok
- Sergei Yesenin