Reinventing Romantic Poetry : Russian Women Poets of the Mid-nineteenth Century

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Her work in front of her on the window... [...]

She looks as if she would say, “They’re having a real holiday!”

And perhaps the labor of her long, sleepless nights [i.e., her sewing]

She recognized on my carefree friend,

And there was so much sadness in her gaze, and so much unspoken

regret

For bright, splendid, lively youth sadly lost,

For the life which the Lord gave her to laugh and sing and love

That this gaze I will not forget, for a long time—for all time.)

Zotov’s changes in the printed version of the poem all served to mute

Khvoshchinskaia’s contrast between the sisters’ gaiety and the young

woman’s unhappiness. He removed “bezzabotno” (carefree) from line

10 and in line 11 changed “chasto sluchalos’ [gromkoe slovo]” (there

was often [loud speech]) to “neredko sluchalos’“ (not infrequently there

was [loud speech]). Clearly, young ladies should not be so boisterous.

Zotov also removed Khvoshchinskaia’s reference to the woman’s youth,

which underlines the sapping effects of poverty.

Khvoshchinskaia, Line 14: “%

,  

”

h

(Young but pale)

Published version: “

, 

”

h

(Sad, pale)

Rather, Zotov implied, by rewriting another line, the woman’s sadness

was attributable to disease, perhaps tuberculosis, which, nevertheless,

made her beautiful:

Khvoshchinskaia, Line 16: ' ,  

 

 

u  

h

(A bright gaze, a languid face amidst the surrounding gloomy darkness)

Published version:    , 

  



h

(A bright gaze and a languid, sickly kind of beauty)

Zotov also eliminated Khvoshchinskaia’s reference to the woman’s

sewing in line 19 , making lines 21–22difficult to understand. He added

a tear on the young woman’s eyelash, changing a picture of common do-

mestic drudgery and misery to one of emotional crisis:

Nadezhda Khvoshchinskaia 127