and breast. See also Iazykov’s “Elegiia (Zdes’ gory s dvukh storon stoiat)” (El-
egy [Here mountains stand on both sides], 1839 ) and “Elegiia (Ty voskhititel’na!
Ty pyshno rastsvetaesh’)” (Elegy [You are ravishing! You bloom luxuriantly],
1820 s), and Fet’s “Kak maiskii golubookii” (Like a blue-eyed May, 1842 ).
Domestic affections: Fuks, for example, in “Vecher na dache” (Evening at the
dacha, 1834 ) describes a scene of marital contentment. Teplova expresses her love
for her sister in several poems, for example, “K sestre, v al’bom” (To my sister,
for her album, 1838 ) and “K sestre (Kogda nastanet chas zhelannyi)” (To my sis-
ter [When the desired hour comes], 1838 ). She also movingly describes feelings
of loss at the death of a husband and daughter in “Son” (A dream, 1845 ) and
“Na smert’ docheri” (On the death of my daughter, 1846 ). See also Garelina,
“Moi vernyi drug i brat” (My faithful friend and brother, 1870 ) and “K bratu” (To
my brother, 1870 ); Khvoshchinskaia, “Materi” (To my mother), Syn otechestva,
no. 11 ( 1842 ): 1–2, and “Byvalo, s sestrami veseloi i shumnoi tolpoi” (My sis-
ters and I in a cheerful and noisy crowd used to, 1847 ); Mordovtseva, “Moei
materi” (To my mother, 1877 ); Shakhova, “Materi” ( 1839 ); Bakunina, “Poslanie
k materi” (An epistle to my mother, 1833 ).
Female childhood: The speaker in Pavlova’s “Sonet” (Sonnet, 1839 ), for ex-
ample, encourages a child to enjoy Russian folklore. The speaker-poet concludes
that a poet also must keep a child’s soul. See also Pavlova’s “Da, mnogo nas” (Yes,
we were many, 1839 ), mentioned earlier. Teplova in “Sovet” (Advice, 1837 ) iron-
ically warns a girl not to continue writing poetry, which she describes as “a dan-
gerous gift for maidens.” See also Teplova’s “K nei” (To her, 1860 ) and Lisitsyna’s
“Pesn’” (Song, 1829 ).
Motherhood: For example, the speaker in Rostopchina’s “Iskushenie” (Temp-
tation, 1839 ) expresses feelings of tender concern for her two babies (see chap-
ter 4 for discussion). In Mordovsteva’s “Kolybel’naia pesnia” (Cradle song,
1877 ), however, the speaker bitterly warns her child of the disillusionments that
await it in life. See also Garelina, “Spi, moi kroshechka beztsennoi” (Sleep my
priceless, little one, 1870 ).
Female old age: Two very contrasting attitudes toward old age can be found
in Garelina’s “Akh, vy kudri” (Oh, you curls, 1870 ), in which the speaker regrets
her physical losses, and Pavlova’s balladlike “Starukha” (The old woman, 1840 ),
in which an old woman puts a young man under a spell with her stories, that is,
with her art.
59 .Perhaps the most famous such poem is Rostopchina’s “Nasil’nyi brak”
(The forced marriage, 1845 ), in which she compared Russia’s annexation of
Poland to a forced marriage (discussed in chapter 4 ). Khvoshchinskaia in “‘Vy
ulybaetes’?... Razdum’e ne meshaet’” (You are smiling? My pensiveness does-
n’t prevent, 1852 ) (discussed in chapter 5 ) shows that women’s upbringings make
it impossible for them even to protest against such marriages. See also Garelina,
“Mne zhal’ tebia, ty pogibaesh’” (I pity you, you are perishing, 1870 ) and
Zhadovskaia, “Otryvki iz neokonchennogo razskaza” (Excerpts from an un-
finished story, 1885 ).
60 .I would extend to most of these women poets Pamela Perkins’s observa-
tion that in the lyrics of Pavlova and Emily Dickinson there is “a sense of soli-
tude (uedinenie), an isolation that could be conceived as enhanced by the fact of
Notes to Page 84 251