Disaster And Revelation, By Joseph Brodsky

Disaster and Revelation

Discrimination is something that people have been going through for years in the past and still now. It can be because of your race, opinions, beliefs, wealth or who you want to be in life. Sometimes people will do everything in their power to stop you but don’t let them keep you from your dreams. Joseph Brodsky, a poor Jewish poet from Russia overcame his challenges and afflictions and subsequently devoted himself to the work of poetry that he so loved.

Joseph Brodsky was born on May 24, 1940 in the town of St. Petersburg, Russia. His family wasn’t known for wealth or for his father’s service in the Soviet Navy. However,

Brodsky was known quite well by his teachers. And the reason why was because he was born Jewish. His teachers didn’t like him so they treated him without kindness and forced him to learn. He couldn’t take any more of his teachers disrespect, so he dropped out of school at the age of fifteen. Just because he left school doesn’t mean he stopped learning completely. He stayed at home and studied. He was starting to develop a love for literature and even started to teach himself Polish. He still had his doubts for dropping out of school, but then again he felt like it was the right thing to do. Brodsky expresses his feelings of doubt and relief after his drop out,“Afterward I often regretted that move, especially when I saw my former classmates getting on so well inside the system. And yet

I knew something they didn’t. In fact, I was getting on too, but in the opposite direction, going somewhat further” ( The New Yorker 1 ).

Poetry became Brodsky’s escape in life. He became quite popular as a street poet and the public enjoye...

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...owerful. The Poetry Foundation states, " Brodsky charged at the world with full intensity and wrestled his perceptions into lines that fairly vibrate with what they are asked to hold. There is no voice, no vision, remotely like it"

(1). The Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Brodsky for his amazing authorship. He had heart problems as a result from his hard labor and died of heart disease on January 28, 1994.

When people try to stop you from doing what you love don't let them. They may hate you

because you are of lower status or because your religious beliefs aren't the same. Joseph

Brodsky continued to write poems when he was punished for it and cast out of his

country. It may have been difficult to continue and he probably wanted to give up, but he

didn't. He kept trying and he finally reached his dream. Don't let people crush your

dreams.