Vadim Levin: poems about children's "adulthood"

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Vadim Levin was once a little boy. His childhood is so entrenched in his thoughts and creativity that it accompanies him already in adulthood. This man writes bright, interesting children's poems.

About "Stupid Horse"

One of Levin's most popular works is the poem "Stupid Horse":

The horse bought four galoshes

A couple of good ones and a couple of simpler ones.

If it's a nice day, The horse walks in good galoshes…

This rhyme is almost half a century old. His very first readers have matured long ago, their children have also become adults. However, Stupid Horse remains playful, young and relevant.

Vadim Levin somehow miraculously retained the world of childhood. Therefore, he still composes poignant, friendly poems for children, written in their language. Today these works help teachers and parents of kids to find common themes with them, to understand their inner world.

Biography

Vadim Aleksandrovich is not only a children's poet. He is also a scientist, candidate of psychological sciences, as well as a teacher. Its roots go back to the Ukrainian SSR. It was there, in the city of Kharkov, in 1933 he was born. Despite the fact that his literary talent was inherited (he is the nephew of the famous poetess Khana Levina), after school, young Vadik went to the Polytechnic Institute. Only after graduation, he entered the Faculty of Philology at Kharkov University.

The biography of Vadim Levin is closely connected with the war. When he was only 8 years old, the Second World War began. Relatives came to Kharkov from near Brest. From their stress and stories, he studied the war.

Vadim's father was a mechanic, his mother worked as an engineer. Together with his mother, as well as grandparents, the future poet spent time in the evacuation in the city of Buzuluk. From there, after some time, the family moved to Tashkent. At first they were settled in the club building, and then one Uzbek family sheltered them. For 9 sq.m. 8 people huddled.

The boy's father went to the front, but was seriously wounded and treated for a long time. In 1942 he found his family in Tashkent. Here he opened the first military training center in the city. He carefully prepared all conscripts for war, giving useful skills. As a result, many of them survived. Vadim Levin returned to Kharkov in 1943, after the city was liberated from the Nazis.

In 1995 the poet left for Israel with his family (wife and daughter). Now lives in Germany, the city of Marburg.

Work and Literature

In his hometown, Levin led a literary studio for a long time. At the same time, he was invited to work in Moscow. There he became a talk show host for children.

Vadim Levin is also known as a co-author of the primer, which was created according to the pedagogical system of Elkonin-Davydov. He wrote several textbooks on the Russian language, together with other authors he created many books on pedagogy and psychology. In this regard, it seems strange that the writer came to write children's poems.

As a child, he himself read a lot of poems for kids. And already in the 3rd grade he composed his own work. It was dedicated to a girl who ran away from him to her girlfriends right after the dance. The poet himself now thinks that it is terrible.

In the 6th grade, Levin helped with the release of the school newspaper, which was satirical in nature and was called "Hedgehog". It was there that he began to write his first epigrams, drawing cartoons.

And already in 1959 Yevgeny Yevtushenko arrived in the native city of the future poet. His poetry made a huge impression on Vadim. These were civil, poignant, too open and unusual for society verses. It was then that a real literary revolution took place in Levin's head. He went to a special literary studio. There he got acquainted with the works of Pasternak, Tsvetaeva. And he began to write. But best of all, he wrote poems for children from his pen. Now Vadim Levin writes not only poetry. All the kids in Russia know his rhymes.

Compositions

Boys and girls love the works written by Vadim Levin. His poems were released in the following collections:

• Stupid horse.
• "A fish with two tails".
• "Walking with my daughter".
• "My co-author is winged".
• "Where did the circus go?"
• Between Us and others.

Many of these books in every little child today are on the shelf in the place of honor, because they are incredibly loved. They are read every day before going to bed, in the morning, in the afternoon, and some poems and counting rhymes are even known by heart and used in their children's games.