Gaprindashvili, Valerian Ivanovich

Born Dec. 21, 1888 (Jan. 2, 1889), in Kutaisi; died Jan. 31, 1941. Soviet Georgian poet.

Gaprindashvili graduated from the legal department of Moscow University in 1914. His first collection, Twilight, was published in 1919. Gaprindashvili was one of the founders of the symbolist group Blue Antlers but later moved away from symbolism. He wrote verses on the revolution ("The Return to the Land") and on socialist construction. Such verses as “The Memory of Lenin,” “Such a Poem,” “Ferro,” “The Paris Commune,” “My Motherland,” and “Bolnisi’s Temple,” are full of lyricism. He is the author of works on the theory of literature, as well as translations into Georgian of the works of Russian and Western European poets. He has translated the verses of N. Baratashvili into Russian. He has been awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor.