Although the Zhivago poems of the American edition of Pasternak's novel are not numbered, it is interesting to note that "Fairy Tale" ("Skazka" in the original), central as it is to both the Appendix and the events of the novel, is the thirteenth of twenty-five poems left by the hero, Yuri Zhivago, as his testament. It is in fact at Lara's urging that the poet decides to record some of the work she has heard him recite. This takes place on the second and third night of the couple's stay at Varykino, a period of thirteen days stolen out of time, out of History. "Fairy Tale" is a deeply personal message to Lara, yet it is so devoid of "romantic morbidity" as to yield "to a broad and serene vision that [lifts] the particular to the level of the universal and the familiar."…

It has often been pointed...