Not Quite in the Name of the Lord: A Biblical Subtext in Marina Cvetaeva's Opus

connections between linguistic units and their extensive historical, literary, and religious associations, bringing a nearly Futurist verbal inventiveness to the more traditional poetic exploitation of cultural subtexts. Personal names are no exception to this rule. Other poets' names initiate and structure her addresses to them-she structures poetic meaning around the clicking, splashing or trigger-cocking sound of Blok (SiP 1:227), the ecstatic "Ax" of Axmatova (SiP 1:232) and the runbling "Er" of Erenburg (SiP II:160).1 Her own name, Marina, repeatedly provokes poetic treatments of its etymology and associations.2 Cvetaeva exploits her own name's poetic and mythological significance, bringing into play both its etymological and its historical and literary planes of meaning. Another significant level of naming works to illuminate Cvetaeva's speaking selves through names that are not strictly speaking her own. This study will explore two examples, the names Ivan and Marija (equivalent to the English John and Mary), and their function in Cvetaeva's writing. These names have tremendous resonance in Russian culture, as indeed in all Christian traditions: they spring from and refer back to central figures in the Gospels. Using them lets the poet claim creative power within Russian cultural and poetic traditions which insist on strictly polarized genders and value female silence. Gospel names cast their light onto other literary and historical figures who bear them, intiating patterns of relationship and furthering the poet's exploration of far-reaching identities. Finally, "Ivan" and "Marija" are also the names of Cvetaeva's parents, Ivan Vladimirovic Cvetaev and Marija Aleksandrovna Mejn. Therefore her poetic treatment of these two names plumbs her personal, family heritage while it works to define and refine her relationship to the fundamental narrative of Western