Ivan Dmitriev

Ivan Ivanovich Dmitriev (1760–1837), born in the Simbirsk province, was a poet of the sentimental school and a close friend of Karamzin. He is best known for his songs and fables, and later served as Minister of Justice (1810–1814).

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.