Gavrila Romanovich Derzhavin

Gavrila Romanovich Derzhavin (Гаври́ла Рома́нович Держа́вин, July 14, 1743 – July 20, 1816) was the greatest Russian poet before Alexander Pushkin. Although his works are traditionally assigned to the literary Classicism, his best verse is full of antitheses and conflicting sounds in the way reminiscent of John Donne and other Metaphysical poets.

Life
Derzhavin was born in Kazan. His father was a poor country squire of Tatar origin who died when Gavrila was still young. He received a little formal education at the gymnasium there, but left for Petersburg as a private in the guards. There he rose from the ranks as a common soldier to the highest offices of state under Catherine the Great. He first impressed his commanders during the Pugachev rebellion. Politically astute, his career advanced when he left the military service for civil service. He rose to the position of governor of Olonets (1784) and Tambov (1785), personal secretary to the Empress (1791), President of the College of Commerce (1794), finally become the Minister of Justice (1802). He retired in 1803 and spent the rest of his life in the country estate at Zvanka near Novgorod, writing idylls and anacreontic verse. He died in 1816 and was buried in the Khutyn Monastery near Zvanka, reburied by the Soviets in the Novgorod Kremlin and then reinterred at Khutyn.


Works
Derzhavin is best remembered for his odes, dedicated to the Empress and other courtiers. He paid little attention to the prevailing system of genres, and many a time would fill an ode with elegiac, humorous or satiric contents. In his grand ode to the Empress, for instance, he mentions searching for fleas in his wife's hair and compares his own poetry with lemonade.

Unlike other Classicist poets, Derzhavin found delight in the carefully chosen details, like a colour of wallpaper in his bedroom or a poetical inventary of his daily meal. He believed that the French was a language of harmony, the Russian was a language of conflict. Although he relished harmonious alliterations, sometimes he would deliberately instrument his verse to the effect of cacophony.

Derzhavin's major odes were the impeccable "On the Death of Prince Meschersky" (1779); the playful "Ode to Felicia" (1784); the lofty "God" (1785), which was translated into all languages of Europe; "Waterfall" (1794), occasioned by the death of Prince Potemkin, and "Bullfinch" (1800), a poignant elegy on the death of his friend Suvorov. He also provided lyrics for the first Russian national anthem, Let the sound of victory sound!


Influence
According to D.S. Mirsky, "Derzhavin's poetry is a universe of amazing richness; its only drawback was that the great poet was of no use either as a master or as an example. He did nothing to raise the level of literary taste or to improve the literary language, and as for his poetical flights, it was obviously impossible to follow him into those giddy spheres"[1]. Nevertheless, Nikolai Nekrasov professed to follow Derzhavin rather than Pushkin, and Derzhavin's line of broken rhythms was continued by Marina Tsvetaeva in the 20th century.


Memorable lines
Gde stol byl yastv, tam grob stoit (English: Where used to be a table full of viands, a coffin now stands)
Ya tsar, - ya rab, - ya cherv, - ya bog (English: I'm a czar - I'm a slave - I'm a worm - I'm a God)

Lines found at Derzhavin's table after his death

The current of Time's river
Will carry off all human deeds
And sink into oblivion
All peoples, kingdoms and their kings.
And if there's something that remains
Through sounds of horn and lyre,
It too will disappear into the maw of time
And not avoid the common pyre...