Continued
from Articles page
Ivan
Sysoev was born on November 17 1894 at Rodionovka, a village located in
the Caucasion mountain region
of Georgia. Ivan was the youngest among four children of Fyodor
and Manya Sysoev. Three of his brothers
died in infancy, three others survived: Fedosya, born in 1888,
Fyodor in 1891, and Ivan.
The year Ivan was born, 1894, coincided with several major
events in Doukhobor history. It was during this year
that the exiled Doukhobor leader Peter V. Verigan advised
his followers living in the Caucasus to burn their arms
as a symbolic opposition to all types of killing and wars.
A year later, in 1895, the Burning Of Arms took place.
Another important event of this period was the Doukhobors'
refusal to do military service; enlisted Doukhobor
men began to proclaim that a true Christian must serve only
one master - God - and not the Czar as well. Those
who refused military service were put into a penal battalion,
and later sent to Yakutsk (Siberia); those who burned their
arms were banished to Tiflis Province and dispersed in the mountain villages
among the Georgians
and Tatars. Deprived of any land and forbidden to associate
with their brethren in other places, the newly exiled
Doukhobors faced almost certain death from starvation.
Fortunately the great Russian wrtiter and humanist Leo Tolstoy
heard about the plight of the Doukhobors and intervened on
their behalf, thus averting what could have been a tragedy. In 1898, with
help from Tolstoy and
the English Quakers, the Doukhobors received permission to
emigrate from Russia. The first group left in August
of the same year, setting out in a cattle boat first for Cyprus,
then several months later for Montreal, Canada.
Two other groups followed, and from 1898 to 1900 some 7500
Doukhobors arrived in Canada to settle finally on
virgin prairie land in the province of Saskatchewan.
When Ivan Sysoev set foot on Canadian soil he was only five
years old, but old enough to recall vividly the long
sea journey in the cattle boat, and later, the first difficult
months in Saskatchewan. These memorable events
are reflected in his poems "Long Past",
"No One Knows", and "My Beginning".
Several miles north of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, the Sysoev
family settled in the community village of Uspenie,
named by the Doukhobors in honor of the biblical Feast of
Assumption. Settling in, the Sysoev family began to
work the land and from the early age of six Ivan helped plough,
feed and graze cattle. Seldom was there time or
energy left after a long day's work, but there were some moments
when he would sneak away into a nearby
grove and memorize psalms from The Living Book.
Ivan's parents had the rare gift of being able to compose
melodies to hymns and psalms, and in such a way they created
new songs for Doukhobor choirs. As Ivan recalls, many people would gather
at their home to learn
to sing new psalms and hymns. The magical chants of hymn-singing
would facinate the young poet, while
reading was still his fondest occupation.
Ivan acquired a passionate love for books by listening to
his father read aloud to the whole family during the long
winter evenings. After learning the Russian alphabet, Ivan would read
any printed material he could get his hands on. But there
were very few books among the Doukhobors during the first few years in
Canada. These
were hard times and there was little money for the essentials
of life, let alone for books.
As if by the grace of God, the Sysoev family acquired the
Russian book "The Golden Grains" from Tolstoyan
friends who apparently lived nearby. The book contained a
collection of short stories and poetry for educating
people to develop "a Christian conciousness". In
the words of the poet, "The Golden Grains" was his
school, his
textbook for learning grammar and poetry.
When life improved materially in the community, the Doukhobors
started ordering books from Russia. Amomg the
first books from the motherland which Ivan read were the poetry
of Pushkin, Lermontov, Nadson and Koltsov.
This poetry sparked the youngster's interest enough to convince
him to test his own skill as a poet.
In 1909, at the age of 14, Ivan wrote his first poems: "Along
The Pathway", "Rising Early", and "Among
The
Fieldgrass" in which the central theme is derived
from daily impressions of life and from the admiration of nature's
beauty. "Awaking Early" describes a ploughing scene
in spring, while "In The Village Of Uspenie" and
"Among The Fieldgrass" depict the elemental
rhythms of nature.
In many respects Sysoev's early verses resemble Koltsov's
poetry in that one finds the same admiration for
nature, the same simplicity of language, and the same melody
of verse. As was the case with Koltsov, Sysoev
was a self-taught poet who began writing poetry without having
any formal education. Koltsov had, it is true,
spent one year in school, but Sysoev, on the other hand, never
attended a single day of school.
In 1912 the Sysoevs moved from Saskatchewan to British Columbia
along with many other Doukhobors. During
the first year Ivan yearned for his native Saskatchewan, for
the great expanses of the prairies, for father's
farmhouse, and for the little green leafy grove where he often
ran off to write poetry. In "Farewell, Dear
Saskatchewan" Sysoev laments for the country
he learned to love do dearly.
It was not very long before the poet felt himself at home
in the Kootenays, embraced by the beauty of the
Selkirk Mountains and its many fertile valleys. What helped
him fit in to the new environment and people was his meeting,
courtship, and eventual marriage in 1915 to young Agafya Popova.
Quite surprisingly, not a single poem is preserved in which
the poet expresses his feelings of love towards
Agafya, although she remembers receiving several love poems
from Ivan. The love theme is generally absent
from Sysoev's lyrics except for a few love poems written in
the 1920s. As if intentionally shying away from this
topic, the poet seems to feel that this subject matter is
too trivial for a "spiritually minded" Doukhobor poet.
Then in 1921 Ivan and his young family returned to Saskatchewan,
settled in the village of Kylemore, and began
farming again. In spite of the seemingly endless work on the
farm, Ivan found time to write some of his best
poetry. Between 1920 and 1930 Sysoev's career as a poet blossomed.
It is during these fruitful years that he
created his best religous hymns such as "In The Struggle
For Freedom" (see Works page) "Rise
Up Ye New
Forces", "Friends, The Dawn Is Breaking"
and many others which exhort the Doukhobors to lead a Christian way
of life, and to proclaim the ideals of freedom, brotherhood
and love. Many of the songs of this period became
part of the repertoire of various Doukhobor choirs and to
this day are sung at Doukhobor meetings, concerts,
and festivals. The year 1924 marked the end of an era in the
turbulent history of Canadian Doukhobors. It was
then that the Doukhobor leader Peter (Lordly) Verigan was
killed when a bomb exploded in the rail car in which
he was travelling. The tragic news of the death of their beloved
leader shocked all the Doukhobors. Sysoev
expresses his deep sorrow in the poems "The Great
Fighter", "Westward", "From The
Beginning Of Time" (see
Works page) and especially in "In
The Poet's Eyes". The poet depicts Lordly not only as the Doukhobor
leader
who dies tragically at the hands of the enemy, but as a universal
fighter for the truth. The poet assures the
dying leader that the Doukhobors will continue their non-violent
struggle for the good of man under the
leadership of his son Peter (Christyakov) Verigan.
With Christyakov's arrival from Russia in 1927, Sysoev and
the new leader established an intimate and lasting
friendship. The poet became one of the Christyakov's most
faithful comrades and staunch supporters. He also
began to participate actively in the affairs of the Doukhobor
community, and upon the request of the leader,
became a choir leader and composed many new songs.
During the Christyakov period, Sysoev writes nearly exclusively
about the Doukhobors, portraying them as true
followers of Christ who carry the cross of civilization in
the name of true brotherhood and love. The Doukhobor
leaders, in the eyes of the poet, are holy martyrs who suffer
for the Christian faith. As an illustration of this
suffering, the poet writes about Christyakov's imprisonment
and the Canadian government's abortive attempt to
deport him. While Christyakov is confined in a Prince Albert,
Saskatchewan jail, Sysoev sends him passionate
verses pledging his loyalty and love.
In 1939 another tragedy struck the Doukhobor community, their
beloved leader Chrisyakov died. In a series of
poems: "Sad News", "My Eyes No
Longer See Him" and "Two Years Pass", Sysoev
honors his beloved leader and
weeps in grief over his loss.
When in 1938 the Sysoevs returned to British Columbia, they
first settled in Perry's Siding and later in the
Okanagan Valley, where the family worked in the orchards and
farms. The summers were taken up with hard
manual labor, while in the winter Sysoev was preparing for
publication the new version of "The Book Of Life",
which Peter Christyakov had already initiated before
his death. This ambitious project was to include Doukhobor
psalms, prayers, speeches of Doukhobor leaders, and poetry.
According to Christyakov's plan, Sysoev was to
edit the poetry, John G. Bondoreff the speeches, and the leader
would be the editor-in-chief. Christyakov's
untimely death interrupted the project, but Sysoev continued
to collect new material and in 1945 he approached the Doukhobor
Youth Organization with the proposal to publish it. When the organization
refused to
publish the book, Sysoev decided to do it on his own, and
in 1954 prepared for publication what was to be the
first volume, consisting of religious songs and hymns. The
second volume was to contain Doukhobor psalms, the
third, a collection of popular songs. Unfortunately "The
Book Of Life" did not appear in print and the poet's most
cherished dream was not realized.
A final move ocurred in 1956 when the Sysoevs came to Grand
Forks, BC. Here Ivan spent the last ten years of
his life. Already on pension and not having to seek outside
work, Sysoev devoted all his time to poetry. At this
point the poet was concerned primarily with the religious
theme, contemplating such eternal questions as the
purpose of life and the nature of man's role on this earth.
Ultimately, he came to the conclusion that without a
belief in Christ, life loses purpose, it becomes meaningless.
This particular sentiment is revealed in such poems
as "I Call Upon You", "O Lord,
Accept My Prayer", and "I Like To Contemplate".
As the poet grew older, the more convinced he became that
people are not living right, but have exchanged the
high ideals of brotherhood and love for the satisfaction of
material needs and for personal gain. His target is
primarily the Doukhobors who, in his opinion, have forgotten
the teachings of their forefathers, and are not
concerned about their spritual life. "Christ is no longer
relative of the Doukhobors" writes Sysoev in a bitter
message to V.D. Filippoff, "they are worshippers of the
dollar and luxury".
Sharp criticism of his brethren did not further the poet's
popularity among the Doukhobor factions. The polemical
nature of the poet's biting lyrics repelled many Doukhobors
and near the end of his life he felt alienated and
alone among his people. Feelings of alienation and despair
are vividly expressed in such poems as "No One Came
To My Anniversary", The Song Is Sung",
and "Hear Ye This".
The poet continued to write 'til his dying day, feeling it
to be his sacred duty to speak the truth, so that sooner
or later people would heed his call. His last poems, written
in Trail Hospital, express the same concern about the
fate of man, about the future of the Doukhobors and their
children.
In peace and no longer bitter, the Doukhobor poet passed away
on Feb 13 1967, and is laid to rest in the
Doukhobor Cemetery at Grand Forks, BC.
Considering himself a Doukhobor poet, Sysoev throughout his
life addressed his poetry to the theme of the
history of his people anmd their struggle for Christian ideals.
The beginnings of Doukhoborism, according to
Sysoev, can be traced back to the time of Christ, and from
Him the Doukhobors took their principle "Thou Shalt
Not Kill", and their belief in the universal love and
brotherhood of man. As true followers of Christ, Doukhobors
had to walk a thorny road, subjected to much hardship and
suffering.
The burning of arms and the refusal to do military service
were, in the poet's opinion, the most shining examples
of the Doukhobors' heroism. With pride he speaks about those
who were exiled to the Caucasian villages, and
those who were sentenced to twelve years in Siberia. Such
were true Christian martyrs, the poet writes in his
poems "In Struggle For Freedom" (see Works
page) and "Along The Vladimir Road", but he also acknowledges
the hardship of all the Doukhobors of the 1890s who had to
part with their homeland and set off for the long
journey. He depicts the Doukhobor exodus of 1899 in "My
Beginnings", which was intended as a prologue to a
historical poem to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of
the Doukhobors in Canada.
The sufferings of the Doukhobors, according to Sysoev, did
not stop even in Canada. In "No One Knows", the
poet gives an account of the Canadian authorities' pressure
on the Doukhobors to swear the oath of allegiance,
and their consequent repossession of the Doukhobors' land
on the prairies. "No One Knows" is one of the very
few poems describing the life of the Doukhobors on the prairies,
their resettlement in British Columbia and the
organization of the Doukhobor community under the leadership
of Peter "Lordly" Verigan. Another poem dealing
with the same period is "Hear Ye This"
in which the poet speaks about the self-sacrificing toil of the members
of
the former community, the internal difficulties, the government
pressures, and of the economic callapse of the
CCUB. The poem is addressed to Anna Markova, who arrived in
Canada in 1960, and therefore did not experience herself the
life in the commune. The mood of "Hear Ye This" is
quite pessimistic, some of the
negative aspects of communal life are brought into focus,
but later in the poem the poet concludes that a
communal system based on Christian principles is the most
suitable way of life for the Doukhobors.
Written in a four iambic meter, rich in bright imagery and
vivid similes, "The March Westward" is one of the
poet's better creations. In scope and depth it can be compared
only with "The Legend Of My Forefathers",
which show's the poet's genealogy, and with the poems "Then
And Now" and "Who Is A Doukhobor", which
deal
with Doukhobor ideals. In the latter two poems Sysoev writes
about how the Doukhobors strive to serve only
God, to love their neighbor and refuse to serve in wars. The
principle "Thou Shalt Not Kill", in the opinion of the
poet, is the most important tenet in the Doukhobor philosophy
and he skillfully uses poetic imagery to proclaim
pacifist ideas. "People are brothers, not spiteful foes"
he writes in "The Doukhobor Marseillaise", and makes
an
appeal to the world to beat swords into ploughs and melt down
guns for ploughshares. While drawing from the
popular revolutionary song, Sysoev creates a religious hymn
glorifying toil and peaceful life. Similarly, in "In
Harmony With Faith In God", he replaces revolutionary
idealogy with Christian beliefs.
Doukhobor history and Doukhobor ideals are the central themes
which permeate Sysoev's mature poetry.
Parallel to this coexists the theme of the Christian faith
and religion. As years go by, the poet reflects more often
upon the eternal question of how to be a true Christian, how best to serve
God and one's brethren.
If the religous theme predominates in Sysoev's mature lyrics,
his early works are devoted nearly without
exception to the description of nature. Among the earliest
are short landscape sketches which reproduce in
detail impressions from nature. Although in the poem the time
of year is not indicated, one senses that it is
spring, the poet's favorite season. Sysoev devotes many of
his poems to spring, moreover, they are the most
joyful and most cheerful. In many of these poems the poet
departs from a purely external description of nature
toward transmitting emotional feelings aroused in men by events
in the outside world. Thus, in "Christ Has
Risen" he portrays Easter as the time of awakening
of nature, and the simultaneous awakening of man's
consciousness, of his spiritual strength. In Sysoev's mature
poetry nature exists as living testimony to the
Almighty God who created all things on earth, from the most
majestic mountains to the most minute insects.
Contemplations about nature always lead the poet to think
of God, of His greatness and mercy.
Beginning with the 1920s the religous theme occupies an exclusive
place in Sysoev's writings. Sysoev the poet
feels that his task is to sing praise to the Creator and His
Son who descended onto the earth as mankind's
saviour. The image of Christ is compared to the ship's captain
who helps people find the right direction to the
shore. In the poems "The Ship Whirls On"
and "Rages And Moans The Boundless Sea" a man's life
is viewed as a
stormy sea into which a small ship is cast. Only Christ's
help rescues people from destruction.
Man's struggle with the forces of nature which metaphorically
reprsents the struggle to overcome evil coexists
in Sysoev's poetry with the portrayal of the direct battle
between the Christians and their adversaries. The
poems "We Stand Victorious", "Listen
Ye Fighters", and "The Christian Battle"
introduce a series of metaphors
which identify a spiritual battle with a military confrontation.
"Put on the armour of truth, the shield of faith, the helmet
of salvation," Sysoev writes in "Listen Ye Fighters",
insisting that Christ's followers must struggle for
their ideals and that in their spiritual battle Christ Himself
will help. Such an identification with a spiritual battle
with a military confrontation sounds somewhat odd coming from
the lips of a Doukhobor poet who rejects all
types of violence in the name of love and brotherhood. It
seems that Sysoev is influenced here by the long
Christian tradition glorifying the struggle for Christ. Following
the same tradition Sysoev constructs many of his
religious poems on the contrast between light and darkness,
light representing everything that is connected with God and
faith, darkness symbolizing evil and ignorance. The choice of the right
depends ultimately on the
people themselves, but in the end everyone will have to answer
for his own actions. "The time of God's harvest
is coming", warns the poem "If We Are Christian
Fighters".
The most distinctive artistic quality of Sysoev's poetry is
it's melodic character. This applies equally to those
verses to which the poet set the music, as well as to those
not conceived as songs. The melodic nature of
Sysoev's lyrics is the result, first of all, of the consistent
use of the syllabo-tonic metre. The poet successfully
utilizes various metres, and as a rule, avoids any deviation
from the basic rhythm. The iamb is Sysoev's
favorite metre, and is used for most of the religious poems.
Most frequently the poet introduces the four-foot
iamb, less so the five or three foot. Along with the iamb,
the poet readily turns to the four foot trochee,
especially while depicting nature. Within the trinary metres,
the poet prefers the amphribrach, using it in
ultimate poetry which conveys his meditations and reflections.
The majority of poems are divided into four-verse stanzas
with alternating masculine and feminine rhymes, but
occasionally the poet introduces six-line stanzas with the
rhyme aabccm or aabbcc. Sysoev's rhymes are nearly
always exate, in the earlier verses the poet adheres to the
grammatical rhyme, in later ones he sometimes
resorts to inexact rhymes or assonance. The musical quality
of Sysoev's lyrics is accentuated by frequent
repititions of separate words and whole phrases. Sometimes
the beginning of individual lines or stanzas are
similar, sometimes the ending is repeated. In the poem "In
Victory", for instance, each stanza begins with the
words "we are victorious", which intensify the victory-assertive
tone of this poem. Similarly, in "Christ Has
Risen", the repitition of the words "Christ
Has Risen" at the end of each stanza expresses joy of all nature
upon
the resurrection of Christ.
As a whole, Sysoev's poetry is characterized by the almost
total absence of metaphors and similes. The only
metaphoric poems are his early ones in which nature is endowed
with human characteristics and feelings, and
a few later poems inspired by the established literary tradition.
In the latter ones Sysoev willingly resorts to
literacy cliches, such as "to break up the chains of
violence", "to plant the seeds of love", or "to forge
out
happiness and freedom". The majority of Sysoev's poems,
however, introduce simple and concrete images which
frequently refer to visible objects or scenes. In his early
writings the poet concentrates on transmitting visual
and auditory impressionss, in his mature poetry he prefers
to portray emotional feelings, but, as before, he
builds his images upon concrete details, astounding the reader
by their simplicity and straightforwardness.
Most remarkable is the fact that with the aid of concrete
and realistic objects Sysoev creates highly spiritual
poetry. Not only does concretizing of poetic images not contradict
the deep religous direction of the poetry,
but this technique actually enhances it in some measure.
Return to Articles Page
Return to Top 
|