List of poems by Ivan Bunin

Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin (; – 8 November 1953), the first Russian writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature (1933), wrote more than 200 poems. The great majority of them were included into his 1900s collections: Poems (1887–1891), Under the Open Skies (1898), Falling Leaves (1901), Flowers of the Field (1901), Poems (1903), Poems (1903–1906) and Poems of 1907 (1908). Some appeared in short stories' collections (Poems and stories, 1900, Flowers of the Field, 1901, etc.).

Volumes 1 and 3 of 1915's The Works by I.A. Bunin were compilations of poems; some were included also into Volume 6. The Adolf Marks' edition represented the whole of Bunin's poetic legacy (as of 1915), starting with the Falling Leaves book's material. Since then Bunin's poems were appearing in his collections of short stories: Chalice of Life (1915), The Gentleman from San Francisco (1916) and Temple of the Sun (1917). Many of his poems (some revised) featured in three books published in emigration: Primal Love (1921), Chalice of Love (1922), Rose of Jerico (1924), Mitya's Love (1925). In 1929 the Selected Poems (1929) came out in Paris. There was little poetry, though, in The Complete Bunin in 1 volumes, published by Petropolis in 1934–1936.Иван Алексеевич Бунин. Собрание сочинений. Том 1. Стихотворения, 1886–1917. Изд. Художественная литература, 1965. Комментарии (А. Бабореко). 520-577. / Aleksander Baboreko's commentaries to the list of poems as presented in Volume I of the 1965 Complete Bunin, Moscow.

1886–1899 1886 "Open wider, my chest..." (Шире, грудь, распахнись...). Dated March 28, 1886. First published in the Works by I.A. Bunin, 1st ed., 1915, Vol. 1. "The Poet" (Поэт). The Works by I.A. Bunin, 1st ed., Vol. 1. "Thoughtful crescent, deep in midnight..." (Месяц задумчивый, полночь глубокая...). Yuzhnoye Obozrenye (Southern Review) newspaper. Odessa. No.532, July 19, 1898, as "In July". "The Village Pauper" (Деревенский нищий). Bunin's first ever published poem. Rodina magazine, Saint Petersburg. No.20. May 17, 1887. "How sad, how quickly did it fade..." (Как печально, как скоро померкла...) Falling Leaves collection, 1901.

1887 "Flowers of the Field" (Полевые цветы). Flowers of the Field collection, 1901. "At the Pond" (На пруде). Under the Open Skies, 1901. "In the darkening fields, like in the boundless seas..." (В темнеющих полях, как в безграничном море...). Under the Open Skies, 1898. "Moon's crescent, under longish cloud..." (Серп луны под тучкой длинной...). Falling Leaves, 1901. "The Calm" (Затишье). Knizhki Nedeli (Books of the Week) magazine, No.9, Saint Petersburg. September 1898, untitled. "October Sunrise" (Октябрьский рассвет). Under the Open Skies, 1901. "Full moon is high..." (Высоко полный месяц стоит...) Detskoye Tchtenye (Reading for Children) magazine, No.11, 1897, Moscow, as "The Night" (Ночь). "I remember a long winter evening..." (Помню – долгий зимний вечер...). Knizhki Nedeli, January 1889, No.1. 1888 "Such warm and dark a dawn..." (Какая тёплая и тёмная заря...) Poems, 1887–1991, 1891. "The night gets pale. The veil of mists..." (Бледнеет ночь. Туманов пелена...) Poems, 1887–1991, 1891. "Asters are crumbling in gardens..." (Осыпаются астры в садах...). Knizhki nedeli, 1888, No.10, October. "As a child I loved this twilight in the church..." (Любил я в детстве сумрак в храме...) Knizhki nedeli, 1888, No.7, July. "Don't you frighten me with thunder..." (Не пугай меня грозою...) Knizhki nedeli, 1888, No.12, December. "A cloud has melted. Humid warmth..." (Туча растаяла. Влажным теплом...) Under the Open Skies, 1898. "The autumn wind rises up in the woods..." (Ветер осенний в лесах подымается...) Mir Bozhiy, Saint Petersburg, 1898, No.10, October. "I leave alone my house at midnight..." (В полночь выхожу один из дома...) Posledniye novosti, 1935, No.5334, October 31, along with 11 more poems, all noted as "previously unpublished". "The desert and sorrow of steppes..." (Пустыня, грусть в степных просторах...) Posledniye novosti, 1935, No.5334, October 31.

1889 "Severe and snowy is everything around me... (Как всё вокруг сурово, снежно...) Posledniye novosti, 1935, No.5334, October 31. "Sound of an organ makes one's soul ache..." (Под орган душа тоскует...) Posledniye novosti, 1935, No.5334, October 31. "At the cliff under the skies, where storms..." (На поднебесном утесе, где бури...) Posledniye novosti, 1935, No.5334, October 31. "The Gypsy" (Цыганка). The Works by I.A. Bunin, 1915, Vol. 1. "Not a sight of birds. The ailing forest…" (Не видно птиц. Покорно чахнет...) Mir Bozhiy, 1898, No.10, October. According to Maxim Gorky, this poem became great favourite with Leo Tolstoy.М.Горький. Собр. сочинений в 30 томах. т. XIV, стр. 293. "Grey sky is above me..." (Седое небо надо мной...) Posledniye novosti, 1935, No.5334, October 31. "Far beyond the sea..." (Далёко за морем...) Severny Vestnik, 1898, No.7, July. "Alone I am at the outset of the joyful week..." (Один встречаю я дни радостной недели...) Falling Leaves, 1901. "A sudden rain, for half an hour covered..." (Как дымкой даль полей закрыв на полчаса...) Nablyudatel (The Watcher) magazine, Saint Petersburg, 1891, No.6, July. "In Steppes" (В степи) Yuzhnoye Obozrenye, 1899, No.853, July 3. Originally with a note: "A tribute to Belinsky". In later editions it was dedicated to Nikolay Teleshov. "In Kostyol" (В костёле). Niva, 1896, No.8, February 24. Written after visiting kostelsIn Poland, Ukraine, Belarus – a term for a Catholic church. in Vitebsk, the fact being mentioned in The Life of Arseniev (book V, chapter XVI) and in Vera Muromtseva's The Life of Bunin.

1890 "What is the use of talking, and of what..." (Зачем и о чем говорить?..) Orlovsky Vestnik newspaper, 1891, No.22, January 22. "Late summer..." (Поздним летом...) Poems 1887–1891, 1891. "An Imitation of Pushkin" (Подражание Пушкину). The Works by I.A.Bunin, 1915, Vol.1

1891 "In a cloud that blocks the sunshine..." (В туче, солнце заступающей...) Poslednye Novosty, 1935. No.5334, October 31. "That star that's been wobbling in dark water..." (Ту звезду, что качалася в тёмной воде...) Mir Bozhiy, 1901. No.11, November, under the title The Bygones (Былое). Maxim Gorky spoke of how Bunin impressed him with his own rendition of this poem while on Capri in 1909.Novy Zhurnal, New York, 1961, book 64, pp 212-213. "No, it's not this that makes me sad..." (Нет, не о том я сожалею...) Mir Bozhiy, 1893, No.5, May. "The Angel" (Ангел). Detskoye Chtenye, 1901, No.8, August, as "The Angel of the Evening". "To Motherland" (Родине) Yuzhnoye Obozrenye, 1898, No.603, October 4. "Forest and clear azure sky looks..." (Лес – и ясно-лазурное небо глядится...) Sever (North) magazine, 1897, No.22 June 1, as "From the Songs of Spring".

1892 "Each day the pines get fresher and younger..." (Свежеют с каждым днём и молодеют сосны...) Vestnik Evropy, 1893, No.7, July. In the 1915 Works by I.A. Bunin featured as "In February" and dedicated to Aleksey Zhemchuzhnikov. "The raging waters off the fields..." (Бушует полая вода...) Vestnik Evropy, 1893. No.7, July. "Light April evening has expired..." (Догорел апрельский светлый вечер...) Vestnik Evropy, 1893. No.7, July. "Nightingales" (Соловьи) Vestnik Evropy, 1893. No.7, July, untitled. "Evening fades, horizons dark and blue..." (Гаснет вечер, даль синеет...) Under the Open Skies, 1898. "There are still shades..." (Ещё от дома на дворе...) Vestnik Evropy, 1893, No.7, July.

1893 "For Spring-time" (Весеннее) Mir Bozhiy, 1898, No.4, April, as "From the Songs of Spring". "Far away from my home..." (В стороне далекой от родного края...) Russkoye Bogatstvo, 1900, No.12, December. "Beyond the river, meadows, now green..." (За рекой луга зазеленели) Sever, 1898, No.19, May 10. "Trinity" (Троица). Poems and Stories (1900). "Drop-heavy rain in green forest..." (Крупный дождь в лесу зелёном...) Zhiznh i Iskusstvo (Life and Art) newspaper, Kiev, 1898, No.323, November 22. "In the Train" (В поезде). Under the Open Sky. Having received the book from the author, Gorky praised it lavishly in a letter, calling it 'the purest kind of poetry'.The Works by M.Gorky in 30 volumes. Vol. 28. 1954, р. 68. "The night approaches and the pale blue East..." (Ночь идёт – и темнеет...) Poems and Stories (1900), as "The Night". "And I dreamed how one autumn..." (И снилося мне, что осенней порой...) Vestnik Evropy, 1894, No.6, June. "Mother" (Мать). Mir Bozhiy, 1898, No.1, January. Written about Bunin's mother, Lyudmila Aleksandrovna (1834–1901) who, after the family got bankrupt, had to move to their relatives's house. "Seeing how hard it was for her to live in somebody else's home, I wrote this and sent it to her, just to make her feel better", Bunin remembered.Vera Muromtseva-Bunina. Life of Bunin, p.84.

1894 "Kovyl" (Ковыль)In Russian: feather-grass, stipa. Trud (Labour) magazine, Saint Petersburg. No.5, May, originally as "In Southern Steppes". Epigraph ("What is it that rattles…") is taken from The Tale of Igor's Campaign. "In the Garden of Gethsemane" (В Гефсиманском саду). Sever, 1897. No.14, April 6, untitled. "Graves, windmills, roads and mounds…" (Могилы, ветряки, дороги и курганы...) Zhurnal Dlya Vsekh, 1900, No.12, December, as "The Night at Steppes" (Степная ночь). "The ether light has flown overground…" (Неуловимый свет разлился над землею...) Vestnik Evropy, 1894, No.6, June. "If only one could…" (Если б только можно было...) Sever, 1898, No.27, July 5. "The naked steppe brings winds of deserts…" (Нагая степь пустыней веет...) Falling Leaves, 1901.

1895 "What if somewhere, on a distant shore…" (Что в том, что где-то, на далеком...) Vozrozhdenye, 1926, No. 355, May 23. With three more poems, under the common title "The Old Notebook". "Bonfire" (Костер). Trud, 1895, No.11, November, originally as In The Autumn Woods (В осеннем лесу). "When slumber descends upon a darkened town…" (Когда на темный город сходит...) Mir Bozhiy, 1898, No. 2, February, as "The Nightly Blizzard" (Ночная вьюга). "The night has come, the day is gone..." (Ночь наступила, день угас...) Mir Bozhiy, 1897, No.12, December. "On a Country Road" (На просёлке). Under the Open Skies, 1898. "It was long, in the nightly darkness..." (Долог был во мраке ночи...) Niva, 1896. No.19, May 11, as "Amidsts the Seas" (В море). "Snowstorm" (Метель). Poems and Stories, 1900. "From a darkened berth's window..." (В окошко из темной каюты...) Vozrozhdenye, 1926, No.355, May 23.

1896 "Motherland" (Родина). Russkoye bogatstvo, 1898, No.4, April, as "At the North" (На севере). "The night and distant greyness..." (Ночь и даль седая...). Under the Open Skies, 1898, as "Stars" (Звёзды). "Christ resurrected! And again on dawn..." (Христос воскрес! Опять с зарёю...). Under the Open Skies, 1898. "On Dnieper River" (На Днепре). Zhiznh, 1900, No.9, September. Was published with 7 more poems as part of the "Watercolors" (Акварели) poetry cycle. "Sypresses" (Кипарисы). Yuzhnoe obozrenye, 1899, No.707, January 21. "I'm delighted when your blue eyes..." (Счастлив я, когда ты голубые...). Monthly Niva literary supplement, 1896, No.9, September. "Jigsaw road among the snows..." (Вьется путь в снегах, в степи широкой...) Russkoye bogatstvo, 1900, No.11, November, as "Winter Day" (Зимний день). "Why you are so sad, the evening sky..." (Отчего ты печально, вечернее небо...) Mir Bozhiy, 1900, No.8, August, as "In the Seas" (В море).

1897 "Northern Sea" (Северное море). Under the Open Skies, 1898. "At Khutor" (На хуторе). Zhurnal Dlya Vsekh, 1899, No.1, January. About the poet's father, Aleksey Nikolayevich Bunin (1824–1906) who used to play guitar and sing Russian folk songs rather expressively, to a strong dramatic effect.Muromtseva-Bunina, Vera. The Life of Bunin, p.33.