498 RUSSIA (LANGUAGE AND LITKHATUBK) nearly all his works. He is, in particular, the founder of the national tragedy (by his " Boris Godunoff," 1831), for which he used, follow- ing the example of Zhukovski, the iambic metre, which was adopted by many, although others retained the Alexandrine verse. Zhu- kovski himself (1783-1852) is one of the great- est poets of Russia ; he was the founder of a romantic school, and distinguished himself in almost every kind of poetry. Dmitrieff (1760 -1837) distinguished himself equally in satire, epistle, hymn, and epigram. The poets Kry- .loff, Khomiakoff, and Koltzoff also belong to this period. Among the followers of Pushkin must be named Ba/atynski (died 1844), Delvig (1798-1831), Benedictoff, and Podolinski. One of the favorite lyric poets of modern times is Lermontoff (1814-'41), whose works have been translated into many languages. Pushkin and Lermontoff were beyond question the two most talented poets Russia has ever produced, and their works have exercised the most powerful influence on the mind of the young generation. Pushkin is the Byron of Russia, Lermontoff its Schiller. Other lyric poets of distinction are Viazeraski (born 1792), a writer of elegies, and Gneditch, an excellent translator of the Iliad, " King Lear," and other foreign poems. Among the dramatic poets of distinction was Ozeroff (1770-1816), who was the first to fully comprehend the essence and objects of dra- matic poetry. His tragedies (" (Edipus," " Fin- gal," &e.) are written in the Alexandrine verse; and although the language is not pure, and the structure of the verse is frequently heavy, these faults are fully outweighed by the vig- or of thought and expression. Prince Shak- hovski (died 1846) and Glinka are authors of many comedies. Among the more recent dramatic poets, Polevoi and Kukolnik, both of whom took the subjects of their dramas from Russian history, are the most important. Gogol (died 1852) in his comedies and novels pictured with great talent and intense sarcasm the provincial life of Russia. The historical novel has been cultivated with particular suc- cess by Bulgarin, who, however deficient his works may be from an aesthetical point of view, has the merit of having first ventured to portray actual life. Zagoskin, an imitator of Walter Scott, pictured the life of the lower classes, and Count Solohub that of the higher classes of St. Petersburg. Other distinguished writers in this branch of literature are Prince Odoyovski, Masalski, Senkovski, and Dahl. The idyllic life of the Cossacks was repre- sented with great freshness and talent in the works of Gogol, Grebenka, and Kvitka, some of whom used the peculiar dialect of Little Russia (Ruthenian). Collections of popular tales and songs, to which in Russia as in all Slavic countries much attention is paid, were made by Novikoff, Maximovitch, Makaroff, and Sakharoff, and more recently by Afanasieff. Among the prominent historians are Ustrialoff, professor at St. Petersburg, whose " History of Russia " (German translation, 3 vols., Stutt- gart, 1840), which urges the gradual Russifica- tion of all the non-Russian tribes of the em- pire, has been officially introduced as a text book into the Russian colleges; Pogodin, the author of valuable critical works on the an- cient history of Russia; Polevoi ("History of Russia ") ; and Danilevski, the author of some able though partial works on the wars of Rus- sia with Napoleon I. Able historical investi- gations have also been made by Bestuzheff- Riumin, Sniegireff, Sreznevski, the academi- cian Solovieff, and Arsenieff. Philosophical studies are still in their infancy, and mostly lean on modern German philosophy. Scientific theology is cultivated still less. A " Cyclopae- dia of Law " has been written by Novolin, and a " History of Russian Law " by Moroshkin. As is the case with all despotic countries, Rus- sia has a very stringent and annoying system of censorship, which has proved to be a great impediment to literature, yet at the same time a great promoter of it. All the writers of the 50 years preceding the accession of Alexander II. were turned into a kind of political mar- tyrs. The independent study of sciences, the free culture of poetry, fiction, and the fine arts, were constantly checked, and despotism was rampant everywhere. The writers naturally strewed their pages with political allusions and recriminations, which exposed them to prose- cution on the part of the government, causing their productions to be read by people who would not otherwise have taken any interest in them. In this way the progress of Russian literature since the accession of Nicholas to the throne in 1825 has been amazing. He began his reign amid a military revolution with which a few of the literary people were indirectly concerned. The leaders of the movement were hanged, and the others exiled to Siberia; but an impetus was given to liberal ideas which could not easily be checked. These ideas broke out again in 1848-'9 with Petrashevski's con- spiracy. During that period Pushkin, Ler- montoff, and Gogol were the leading writers, whom, moderate though they were in their views, the government never ceased to perse- cute. They were all exiled or banished at dif- ferent times, but still went on with their lib- eral propaganda, embittered by the persecution and rendered immensely popular by their won- derful talents. Among those connected with the later revolutionary movements were two other young men, wealthy and well educated, Hertzen (1812-'70) and Ogareff. They man- aged to escape to London, established there a Russian press, and began a series of publica- tions of which the Kolokol (" The Bell "), a po- litical newspaper, became the most celebrated. Russian travellers smuggled it into the empire in large quantities, and its fierce attacks on the government greatly contributed to awaken a feeling of patriotism among the more enlight- ened of the population. The Crimean war showed even to Nicholas that his system, far
