Biography
Denis Vasilyevich Davydov (Russian: ????? ?????????? ???????) (27 July 1784 ? 22 April 1839) was a Russian soldier-poet of the Napoleonic Wars who invented a specific genre ? hussar poetry noted for its hedonism and bravado ? and spectacularly designed his own life to illustrate such poetry.
Davydov stemmed from a great family of Russian nobility. After gaining celebrity as an indefatigable guerrilla leader of the Russian Patriotic War, he became one of the most popular men in the country. Young men of Pushkin's circle viewed him as a model romantic hero and the Decembrists prized his company as well.
Davydov's poems read like a diary of the hussar and bon-vivant that he was. Admired by Belinsky for their organic quality and Russianness, they address such themes as courage in battle, harlots, vodka, and the value of true friendship. In them he sings the praise of reckless valor, on the field of battle as well as before the bottle.
The diction in some of his poems is rather unconventional, and occasionally his words have to be replaced by dots, but it is always full of spirit and great rhythmical go. His later poems are inspired by a late love for a very young girl. They are passionately sentimental and as vivid and alive in diction and rhythmical elasticity as his hussar verses. Pushkin had a high opinion of his poetry and used to say that Davydov showed him the way to be original.[1].
The literary mask of a dashing hussar is belied by some of Davydov's lesser known writings. He brought out an Essay towards a Theory of Guerilla Warfare (1821) and Some events from the life of Denis Vasilievich Davydov, a series of recollections on military life, used by Leo Tolstoy in writing War and Peace. Davydov even makes an appearance in Tolstoy's novel in the person of Vasily Denisov. According to D.S. Mirsky, "in his autobiography he indulges in a veritable orgy of puns and jokes not always in the best of taste. His military writings are fresh, vigorous, and racy; and his memoirs contain some of the best military reading in the language"[2].
[edit] References
This article incorporates text from D.S. Mirsky's "A History of Russian Literature" (1926-27), a publication now in the public domain.
[edit] Notes
^ D.S. Mirsky. A History of Russian Literature. Northwestern University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-8101-1679-0. Page 82.
^ D.S. Mirsky. A History of Russian Literature. Northwestern University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-8101-1679-0. Page 118.
[edit] External links
(Russian) Biography
(Russian) Poems
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_Davydov"
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Biography
Denis Davydov
Denis Vasilyevich Davydov (Russian: ????? ?????????? ???????) (27 July 1784 ? 22 April 1839) was a Russian soldier-poet of the Napoleonic Wars who invented a specific genre ? hussar poetry noted for its hedonism and bravado ? and spectacularly designed his own life to illustrate such poetry.
Davydov stemmed from a great family of Russian nobility. After gaining celebrity as an indefatigable guerrilla leader of the Russian Patriotic War, he became one of the most popular men in the country. Young men of Pushkin's circle viewed him as a model romantic hero and the Decembrists prized his company as well.
Davydov's poems read like a diary of the hussar and bon-vivant that he was. Admired by Belinsky for their organic quality and Russianness, they address such themes as courage in battle, harlots, vodka, and the value of true friendship. In them he sings the praise of reckless valor, on the field of battle as well as before the bottle.
The diction in some of his poems is rather unconventional, and occasionally his words have to be replaced by dots, but it is always full of spirit and great rhythmical go. His later poems are inspired by a late love for a very young girl. They are passionately sentimental and as vivid and alive in diction and rhythmical elasticity as his hussar verses. Pushkin had a high opinion of his poetry and used to say that Davydov showed him the way to be original.[1].
The literary mask of a dashing hussar is belied by some of Davydov's lesser known writings. He brought out an Essay towards a Theory of Guerilla Warfare (1821) and Some events from the life of Denis Vasilievich Davydov, a series of recollections on military life, used by Leo Tolstoy in writing War and Peace. Davydov even makes an appearance in Tolstoy's novel in the person of Vasily Denisov. According to D.S. Mirsky, "in his autobiography he indulges in a veritable orgy of puns and jokes not always in the best of taste. His military writings are fresh, vigorous, and racy; and his memoirs contain some of the best military reading in the language"[2].
[edit] References
This article incorporates text from D.S. Mirsky's "A History of Russian Literature" (1926-27), a publication now in the public domain.
[edit] Notes
^ D.S. Mirsky. A History of Russian Literature. Northwestern University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-8101-1679-0. Page 82.
^ D.S. Mirsky. A History of Russian Literature. Northwestern University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-8101-1679-0. Page 118.
[edit] External links
(Russian) Biography
(Russian) Poems
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_Davydov"
- Victor Erofeyev
Victor Erofeyev (Russian: ?????? ???????; born 1947) is a Russian author, the son of a high-ranking Soviet diplomat (who worked closely with Stalin). He spent some of his childhood in Paris, which accounts for why much of his work has been translated...
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Nadezhda Andreyevna Durova (Russian: ??????? ????????? ??????) also known as Alexander Durov, Alexander Sokolov and Alexander Andreevich Alexandrov (1783, Kiev - March 21, 1866, Yelabuga ) was a woman who became a decorated soldier in the Russian cavalry...
- Ivan Barkov
Biography Ivan Barkov was born in 1732 in the family of an Orthodox priest. As a child he attended an Orthodox school, but at the age of 16 he won an admission to Moscow State University and scholarship. He liked language and poetry, which were his major...
- Evgeny Baratynsky
Evgeny Abramovich Baratynsky (Russian: ??????? ????????? ???????????, March 2, 1800 ? July 11, 1844) was lauded by Alexander Pushkin as the finest Russian elegiac poet. After a long period when his reputation was on the wane, Baratynsky was rediscovered...
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