Read by S. Nikonenko

Sergey Yesenin
“You are my Shagane, Shagane...”

Shagane, you are mine, Shagane!

About wavy rye under the moon.
Shagane, you are mine, Shagane.

Because I'm from the north, or something,
That the moon is a hundred times bigger there,
No matter how beautiful Shiraz is,
It is no better than the expanses of Ryazan.
Because I'm from the north, or something.

I'm ready to tell you the field,
I took this hair from the rye,
If you want, knit it on your finger -
I don't feel any pain.
I'm ready to tell you the field.

About wavy rye under the moon
You can guess by my curls.
Darling, joke, smile,
Just don’t wake up the memory in me
About wavy rye under the moon.

Shagane, you are mine, Shagane!
There, in the north, there is a girl too,
She looks an awful lot like you
Maybe he's thinking about me...
Shagane, you are mine, Shagane.

1924
read by S. Nikonenko

SHAGANE - Talyan (Ambartsumyan) Shaandukht Nersesovna (1900-1976) was born in a small town in southern Georgia - Akhaltsikhe. In the winter of 1924-25. Sergei Yesenin comes to the sea in Batumi, lives here for some time, where he meets a young literature teacher, an intelligent and charming woman, who was visiting her sister. Under the impression of acquaintance and meetings with a young Armenian woman, a world-famous poem was born. And it is unlikely that many lovers of Sergei Yesenin’s work, having read the touching lines “Shagane, you are mine, Shagane!”, know that they are dedicated to the Armenian girl who inspired the poet’s wonderful lines. This is how the image of a young Persian woman from Shiraz was born. The beautiful Shagane makes the poet nostalgic for his native Ryazan side, where “Ivushka too, she looks terribly like you, she can think about me...” The poet gives Sh.N. Talyan collection of poems "Moscow tavern" with the inscription: "My dear Shagane, you are pleasant and ilshlymne."
It is known that the poet often read new works to her, talked to her about the merits of Persian poets, and took books from her home library. She was both externally and spiritually similar to G. Benislavskaya, who was left without parents at an early age, was brought up in a family of Benislavsky doctors, and received her education at a gymnasium. She was interested in literature, loved poetry, especially Blok, and often visited the literary cafe “Stable of Pegasus”, where in the early 20s the best Moscow poets gathered to read their poems and argue. At one of the evenings, Benislavskaya saw Yesenin, heard him reading his poems with inspiration, and after a while they met. “From then on, there was a long string of endlessly joyful meetings,” Benislavskaya recalled. “I lived by these meetings, from one to the other. His poems captivated me no less than he did. Therefore, every evening was a double joy: both poetry and him.” While in the Caucasus, Yesenin sent Benislavskaya letter after letter, in which he shared with her his creative plans, joys and anxieties, and sometimes confessed, scolding himself for everyday mistakes.
There in the north, there’s a girl too, // she’s terribly similar to you...” There is every reason to assert that this poem from “Persian Motifs” is about Galina Benislavskaya.

“You are my Shagane, Shagane...” Sergei Yesenin

Shagane, you are mine, Shagane!
Because I'm from the north, or something,
I'm ready to tell you the field,
About wavy rye under the moon.
Shagane, you are mine, Shagane.

Because I'm from the north, or something,
That the moon is a hundred times bigger there,
No matter how beautiful Shiraz is,
It is no better than the expanses of Ryazan.
Because I'm from the north, or something.

I'm ready to tell you the field,
I took this hair from the rye,
If you want, knit it on your finger -
I don't feel any pain.
I'm ready to tell you the field.

About wavy rye under the moon
You can guess by my curls.
Darling, joke, smile,
Just don’t wake up the memory in me
About wavy rye under the moon.

Shagane, you are mine, Shagane!
There, in the north, there is a girl too,
She looks an awful lot like you
Maybe he's thinking about me...
Shagane, you are mine, Shagane.

Analysis of Yesenin’s poem “You are my Shagane, Shagane...”

The poet Sergei Yesenin dreamed all his life of visiting distant Persia, the image of which, gleaned from fairy tales, excited his imagination. His dream, alas, was never destined to come true, but in 1924 Yesenin visited the Caucasus, thanks to which a very romantic and sensual poetic cycle “Persian Motives” was born. One of the key poems included in this collection was the work “You are my Shagane, Shagane...”. His heroine is not a fictional character, but an ordinary school teacher Shagane Talyan, whom the poet met in Batumi and was literally smitten by her dazzling oriental beauty.

It was this Armenian girl who became the heroine of a number of poems that were included in the “Persian Motifs” cycle. She had very warm friendly relations with the poet, so in her memoirs, Shagane Talyan says that she was very surprised when, on the third day after they met, Sergei Yesenin dedicated her famous poem “Shagane, you are mine, Shagane...” and handed her a collection of his works with a dedicatory inscription .

Yesenin’s friendship with a school teacher from Baku helped the poet not only learn the character and worldview of Eastern women, but also provided rich food for his creative imagination. Therefore, the poem “You are my Shagane, Shagane...” is written in the form of a love letter, in which the author not only confesses his feelings to the main character, who is the prototype of all Eastern women, but also tells her about himself, his thoughts and desires. This work is built on the bright contrast of the North and the East, which the author very subtly and skillfully uses to draw a line between the two worlds and show their differences. Admiring the Caucasus and his beloved Persia, Sergei Yesenin realizes that eastern countries attract him with their mystery, fabulousness and unpredictability. However, as soon as he plunges into the unfamiliar world that the poet dreamed of in his sleep and in reality, he begins to feel a sense of longing for home, so distant and infinitely dear.

Therefore, addressing Shagane in his poem, Sergei Yesenin wants to tell her about his homeland. Emphasizing that he comes from the North, the author does not bother himself with describing the sights of the East, believing that his true pearl is the timid and shy Shagane. However the poet spares no colors to tell what his native side is like, because “the moon is a hundred times bigger there,” and the “wavy rye” resembles the color of his hair. As a refrain in the poem “You are my Shagane, Shagane...” the phrase “I will tell you the field” sounds, which is deliberately constructed with an error, but at the same time is very consonant with the expression “I will open your soul.” Thus, the poet seems to be hinting that his Slavic soul is as wide and vast as a Russian field, and as generous as the land that gives a rich harvest.

With all his admiration for the East, Sergei Yesenin notes that “no matter how beautiful Shiraz is, it is no better than the expanses of Ryazan.” But, being far from home, the poet asks Shagane not to disturb his memory with memories that cause pain. In the finale, the author admits that there, in the north, there is also a girl who is surprisingly similar to Shagane and, perhaps, at this moment is thinking about the poet. This unexpected thought fills his heart with tenderness and warmth, which is addressed to the oriental beauty. Nevertheless, the poem, filled with a sharp and some kind of painful love for Russia, helps Sergei Yesenin dispel the myth of the mysterious East. The poet satisfied his curiosity, and now dreams of returning home, preserving memories of the beauty of oriental women and the fabulous charm of the Caucasus.

Shagane Talyan was not a Persian at all, as one might assume when reading Yesenin’s inspired lines, but an ordinary Russian language and literature from an Armenian school in Batum. The poet saw Shagane when she was leaving school and was simply struck by her oriental beauty. The 24-year-old girl could be another victory for the loving Yesenin. But, despite the fact that she already had a short marriage and early widowhood behind her, Shagane was also distinguished by chastity of soul, which raised their relationship to a completely different, much more sublime level.

Shagane became for the poet the embodiment of all eastern women, their exotic external beauty and even greater spiritual beauty. After an unsuccessful marriage with the world-famous dancer Isadora Duncan, it was this simple Armenian woman who revived in Yesenin’s soul faith in female devotion and purity of thoughts. Almost every day they walked together in the park, the poet gave violets and roses. Already on the third day of meeting him, to the considerable surprise of his beautiful muse, he read to her “You are my Shagane, Shagane” and handed her 2 checkered notebooks.

Despite the fact that the poem is presented in the form of a love letter, the poet shares his thoughts about his homeland with the “beautiful Persian woman”. The work is built on the contrast of East and North. And although the East is fabulously beautiful, the author prefers his native Ryazan expanses with their endless fields of golden rye.

Parting gift

Leaving the Caucasus, Sergei Yesenin presented Shagane with his new collection of poems, “Persian Motifs,” which he accompanied with the inscription: “My dear Shagane, you are pleasant and dear to me.” Other poems included in it are also connected with the image of the beautiful Armenian woman. Her name appears in the poem “You said that Saadi”; the famous lines “I have never been to the Bosphorus” are dedicated to her. In the poem “There are such doors in Khorossan,” the poet again turns to Shagane, calling her Shaga. The final poem of the cycle, imbued with refined sensuality, “I asked the money changer today,” is also inspired by the bright image of the beautiful Shagane.

Apparently, the atmosphere of mutual love that permeates “Persian Motifs” is in fact just a poetic invention. However, only a few

Sergei Yesenin’s poem “You are my Shagane, Shagane” was written by the poet in the Caucasus in 1924. The prototype of the main character, after whom the poem is named, is Shagane Talyan, a literature teacher at a Batumi school.

The main theme is longing for one’s own land, love for one’s native Ryazan land, which the poet felt especially keenly while being away from his homeland, where “wavy rye” grows and a huge moon shines over the field. The poet is impressed by the color of the southern land, but his heart is in his native north. He mentions the bright beauty of the East only in passing, again moving on to memories of the expanses of the Ryazan region: “No matter how beautiful Shiraz is / It is no better than the expanses of Ryazan.”

The poet shares his innermost feelings with Shagane, seeing in her a close soul capable of understanding him. That’s why he addresses her so confidentially: Shagane, you are mine... Warmth and trust are enhanced by colloquial expressions and words: “or what,” “terribly similar.” It is impossible to read the text of the poem “You are mine, Shagane” by Yesenin and not be imbued with its subtle lyricism, which is enhanced by the melodious rhythm and sound repetitions of sonorants and vowels. “You are my Shagane, Shagane” is a verse that became the key work of the collection “Persian Motifs”.

Shagane, you are mine, Shagane!
Because I'm from the north, or something,
I'm ready to tell you the field,
About wavy rye under the moon.
Shagane, you are mine, Shagane.

Because I'm from the north, or something,
That the moon is a hundred times bigger there,
No matter how beautiful Shiraz is,
It is no better than the expanses of Ryazan.
Because I'm from the north, or something.

I'm ready to tell you the field,
I took this hair from the rye,
If you want, knit it on your finger -
I don't feel any pain.
I'm ready to tell you the field.

About wavy rye under the moon
You can guess by my curls.
Darling, joke, smile,
Just don’t wake up the memory in me
About wavy rye under the moon.

Shagane, you are mine, Shagane!
There, in the north, there is a girl too,
She looks an awful lot like you
Maybe he's thinking about me...
Shagane, you are mine, Shagane.

For a long time about a girl named Shagane mentioned in the poem cycle Sergei Yesenin“Persian motives”, nothing was known, biographers even suggested that she was a fictional character. However, the researcher of Yesenin’s work V. Belousov managed to find the girl who inspired the poet to create the famous poem “You are mine, Shagane”.

Yesenin was fond of oriental poetry and dreamed of seeing the homeland of Persian lyricists. He was not able to visit Persia itself, but in 1924-1925. he made a trip to the Caucasus. During his stay in Batumi, the poet met a young Armenian teacher, Shagane Talyan. They developed mutual sympathy. Yesenin gave her his collection with a dedicatory inscription, asked her for a photograph as a souvenir, but after his departure from Batumi, their communication ceased, and he made no attempt to resume it. In 1958, V. Belousov found Shagane, and she sent him an autobiography and memories of Yesenin.

Shagane Talyan wrote that she was born into the family of a priest and a teacher. In 1924, at the time of her acquaintance with Yesenin, the girl taught arithmetic at an Armenian school. She could not restore many details of communication with the poet - almost 35 years have passed since then, Shagane did not keep a diary, and some moments were erased from memory. But her memories still contain many interesting facts.

Shagane remembered well how she first saw Yesenin: “One day in December 1924, I left school and headed home. On the corner I noticed a young man above average height, slender, fair-haired, wearing a soft hat and a foreign mackintosh over a gray suit. His unusual appearance caught my eye, and I thought that he was a visitor from the capital. That same day in the evening, Joffe burst into our room with the words: “Katra, Katra, the famous Russian poet wants to meet our Shagane.” Yesenin and Povitsky were with her at that time. We are going. After we met, I suggested that everyone go for a walk in the park.”

Already on the third day of their acquaintance, the poet gave the girl a poem, which later became the most famous from the series “Persian Motifs”: “It was cloudy, a storm was beginning at sea. We said hello, and Yesenin suggested we walk along the boulevard, saying that he didn’t like such weather and would rather read poetry to me. He read “You are my Shagane, Shagane...” and immediately gave me two sheets of checkered notebook paper on which the poem was written. In one of our subsequent meetings, which now took place almost daily, he read a new poem “You said that Saadi...”.”

Yesenin treated the girl with care and attention, their communication was gentle and chaste: “When Yesenin met me in the company of other men, for example, my fellow teachers, he came up himself, got to know them, but always left with me. He always came with flowers, sometimes roses, but more often with violets. On January 4, he brought a book of his poems “Moscow tavern”, with an autograph written in pencil: “My dear Shagane, you are pleasant and dear to me. S. Yesenin. 4.1.25, Batum."

Yesenin was remembered by Shagane as a sensitive and responsive person: “Back then, we often met street children, and sometimes he would not leave any of them unattended: he would stop, ask where they were from, how they lived, and give the child money. He sees a stray dog, buys a bun or sausage for it, feeds it and pets it. One day I got sick, and my sister went to work. All three days while I was sick, Sergei Alexandrovich came to me in the morning, prepared tea, talked with me, read poems from the “Anthology of Armenian Poetry.”

Their communication broke off even before the poet left: “Shortly before leaving, he indulged in carousing more and more often and began to visit us less often. In the evening, on the eve of departure, Sergei Alexandrovich came to us and announced that he was leaving. He said that he would never forget me, said goodbye to me tenderly, but did not want me and my sister to see him off. I also did not receive any letters from him. S. A. Yesenin is and will be a bright memory of my life until the end of my days.”

Augusta Miklashevskaya’s memoirs also contain interesting facts about the poet: