Poems

Ivan Alexandrovich Kashkin (1899—1963) was born in Moscow, in a family of a military engineer, studied at a Moscow gymnasium; the beginning of his conscious life and literary activity coincided with the October Revolution, the Civil War, and the early years of establishing Soviet power. In 1917 he was a student at the historical-philological faculty of Moscow University. In September 1918, he volunteered for the Red Army and served for three years as a private in heavy artillery units, later teaching in military schools. After leaving the army, he continued his education and in 1924 completed his university course (pedagogical faculty of 2nd Moscow University). At this time, the first publications of I. Kashkin began to appear in print — translations of poetry and prose, usually with introductory notes or accompanying articles.

Literary talent, seriousness in approaching his task, principled choices — all these sharply distinguished the works of I. Kashkin and some other young specialists from the chaotic "mass" translation productions of those years. Kashkin's unique creative identity was formed already in those years. He started very strongly from the outset. The words said by A. V. Lunacharsky in the preface to the collection "Modern Revolutionary Poetry of the West", published in 1930, are fully applicable to Ivan Kashkin: "Russian translators rose to the challenge. With the sensitivity of people of the same era and sentiments, they managed to convey the songs of their foreign brothers accurately in terms of content and rhythm."