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The happiness and destiny of a russian poet: the story of David Samoilov
The poem “Мне выпало счастье быть русским поэтом…” (1981) was first published in the book Voices Beyond the Hills, where it concluded a mini-cycle of four octets: “Год рождения не выбирают…” (1978), “Я слышал то, что слышать мог…” (1981), “Да, мне повезло в этом мире…” (1982), and “Мне выпало счастье быть русским поэтом…” (Самойлов 1985: 69-71); cf. (Самойлов 2006: 256, 305, 311, 301). Although Samoilov did not give an overall title to these texts as a group, they undoubtedly form a conceptual unity. In addition to the texts’ common themes (a summarization of life events), confessional tones, and equal lengths (the octet is the most common form in Voices Beyond the Hills: 36 out of 131 poems, about 27.5%), their graphical treatment is of note.