Pyotr Vyazemsky

Prince Pyotr Andreyevich Vyazemsky (1792–1878) was a poet, critic and wit, a friend of Pushkin and a prominent member of the Arzamas circle. Bowring, who spells the name “Væsemsky”, prints three of his poems in the second part.

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.