Gavriil R. Derzhavin’s “The Bullfinch”: Textual Criticism and History of Composition

Abstract

The paper surveys the history of composition of Gavriil R. Derzhavin’s The Bullfinch (1800), a famous poem on the death of the celebrated Russian military commander Alexander V. Suvorov (1730–1800). An analysis of three versions of these elegiac stanzas demonstrates how Derzhavin consistently improved his style and metrics (the poem is written in a rare logaoedic verse form). A comparison of all editions and manuscripts makes clear that Derzhavin did not notice a typographical error in the twenty-second line of The Bullfinch in the second part of his Works, which was published in 1808 in Saint Petersburg: “the languid howl of lyres” was printed instead of “the howl of languid lyres”. This error was repeated in all subsequent editions of Derzhavin’s poems. The article investigates two Derzhavin’s comments on The Bullfinch, the first made in 1805 for archbishop Evgeny (E. A. Bolkhovitinov) and the second dictated in 1808–1809 to Elisaveta N. Lvova. Derzhavin’s poem is also considered in the context of his other works of the early 1800s. Though the poet claimed that The Bullfinch was written spontaneously, immediately after Suvorov’s death, there are some reasons for doubt, because the earliest manuscript of the poem is from the year 1805. 

DOI: 10.31168/2305-6754.2024.2.04