Yury Neledinsky-Meletsky

Yury Aleksandrovich Neledinsky-Meletsky (1752–1828) was a court official who served under Catherine II and Paul I. He is remembered for songs written in the manner of Russian folk lyrics, many of which were set to music and sung widely.

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.