Tea merchant David Vysotsky, or rather his daughter, Ida, played an important part in the life of poet and writer Boris Pasternak. The young Pasternak was in love with Ida and would come often to their house on Ogorodnya Sloboda Street. At first, he came there with his father who was a painter, and who then started to give lessons to Ida. As Pasternak recalled, he did not know or care much what kind of lessons these were.Three years later he proposed to her in Marburg, Germany, but Ida rejected him. Pasternak was deeply hurt, and while trying to overcome his broken heart he began writing more and more poems. It’s believed these events greatly increased Pasternak’s productivity as a poet.
