The Russian fabulists, whose name is legion, demand some mention;
Khemnitzer, Dmitriev, Ivanov and others, have attempted this style
of poetry; but the most celebrated of all is Ivan Krilov (1768-1844).
Many of his short sentences have become proverbs among the Russian
people, like the couplets of Lafontaine among the French, and Butler's
_Hudibras_ among ourselves. His pictures of life and manners are
most thoroughly national. In Koltzov the true voice of the people,
which had before only expressed itself in the national ballads was
heard. The life of this sensitive and warm-hearted man of genius
was clouded by poverty and suffering.
The poems of Koltzov are written, for the most part, in an unrhymed
verse; the sharp, well-defined accent in Russian amply satisfying
the ear, as in German. His poetical taste had been nurtured by
the popular lays of his country. He has caught their colouring
as truly as Burns did that of the Scottish minstrelsy. He is
unquestionably the most national poet that Russia has produced;
Slepoushkin and Alipanov, two other peasant poets, who made some
little noise in their time, cannot for one moment be compared with
him; but, on the other hand, he has been excelled by the fiery
energy and picturesque power of the Cossack, Taras Shevchenko, of
whom I shall speak.
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