PBC0136: political alienation

PBC 136 expresses the alienation from both tsarist rule and Bolsheviks experienced by nationalist Russians during the Russian Revolution and Civil War. At times, the whole world becomes alarmingly unfamiliar: “In this world I have two enemies,/ Two twins, inextricably joined,/ The hunger of the hungry—and the satiety of the sated” (W481). For others, since “the days foretold have come… [t]he world is no longer wonderful” is a softer, but still crushing new image of Russia (W18).