It is difficult to form a coherent conception of Marina Tsvetaeva’s considerations
about the body, as sometimes they contradict each other and sometimes
they complement each other. However, they were changing as new experiences
were accumulated. From the idea that the body is like a wall or an obstacle in the
way, Tsvetaeva moves to the idea of the body as a separate zone of her personality,
where freedom and democracy go along with subjection, and where the rigorous
part of the personality – soul is to be subdued. When the poet starts to lose
contact with the body, when she becomes convinced that she no longer can
identify with it, she experiences a stormy passion in which she hopes to complete
her own incarnation. However, she comes to the conclusion that the nature of her body is flawed and the signs of gender are not proper. She consciously resigns
from love, claiming that love and creativity cannot be reconciled. Her body
bothers her, it seems to cast a veil on the true reality, which is invisible and
“by which one thinks”. After another period of her soul and body disassociation,
she comes to the conclusion that she did not know her body at all.