Gavrila Derzhavin

Gavrila Romanovich Derzhavin (1743–1816), born near Kazan, served as a soldier and then as a state official: secretary to Catherine II, governor of provinces, and later Minister of Justice. His odes “Felitsa” (1782) and “God” (1784) brought him fame, and he is usually counted the greatest Russian poet before Pushkin. “God” was translated into many languages, and Bowring’s version of it is among the best known in English.

The versions here are by John Bowring, from his Specimens of the Russian Poets (Part the First, 1821; Part the Second, 1823), one of the first English anthologies of Russian verse. They are free, rhymed versions, and should be read as period translations rather than as literal renderings.