Family Tarkovsky was born on 25 June
N.S. 1907 in
Yelisavetgrad,
Kherson Governorate,
Ukrainian region of the
Russian Empire. His father was Aleksander Tarkovsky, a
Ukrainian-born bank clerk of
Polish heritage, and his mother was Maria Danilovna Rachkovskaya of
Romanian heritage
Youth Arseny attended the Elisavetgrad gymnasium and studied at the music school of Gustav Neuhaus, the father of the famous musician Heinrich Neuhaus. Even as a child, together with his father and brother, he attended poetry evenings of visiting celebrities: Igor Severyanin, Konstantin Balmont, Fedor Sologub[4]. Arseny's older brother, Valery Tarkovsky, was an
anarchist who died at age fifteen in 1919 while defending their Ukrainian hometown of Yelizavetgrad from the forces of
Nykyfor Hryhoriv. In 1921, Tarkovsky and his friends published a poem which contained an
acrostic about
Lenin. They were arrested, and sent to
Nikolayev for execution. Tarkovsky was the only one that managed to escape.
Career By 1924 Tarkovsky moved to Moscow, and from 1924 to 1925 he worked for a newspaper for railroad workers called
Gudok, where he managed an editorial section written in verse. In 1925–1929 he studied literature at a
university college in Moscow. At that time he translated poetry from Azerbaijanian, Georgian, Armenian and Arabic. During
World War II he volunteered as a war-correspondent at the army newspaper
Boevaya Trevoga (War Alarm). He was wounded in action in 1943. The leg wound he received caused
gas gangrene, and Tarkovsky had to undergo six gradual amputations. Arseny Tarkovsky was mainly known as a translator of
Abu'l-Ala-Al-Ma'arri,
Nizami,
Magtymguly,
Kemine,
Sayat-Nova,
Vazha-Pshavela,
Adam Mickiewicz,
Mollanepes,
Grigol Orbeliani and many other poets. His first
collection of poetry,
Before snow, was published in 1962. His poetry was inspired by the
Cossack poet
Hryhorii Skovoroda, particularly in the use of landscapes and nature. ==Death==