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

male nature figure, drowns.^35 In “Tsygany” (The gypsies, 1824 ) the free-

spirited gypsy heroine Zemfira is identified with nature, which is de-

scribed as opposing man-made law (culture). Her fickle heart, we are

told, is like the “free moon” (vol’naia luna), which men’s laws cannot con-

trol. Aleko—the representative of Russian society or culture, despite his

rebellion against it—unable to control Zemfira verbally with threats,

murders her.^36 In “Kobylitsa molodaia” (Young little mare, 1828 , origi-

nally subtitled “An imitation of Anacreon,” a reference to Anacreon’s “To

a Little African Mare”) (Sobranie sochinenii, 2 : 571 ) the speaker identifies

the female horse with a woman by describing how he will subjugate it,

using language suggestive of rape:

      ;

[........]

"   ; # !

$

(        #  

h

(Your time has come, as well

[...................]

Just you wait;

I will force you to submit to me [literally, “under me.”])

(Sobranie sochinenii, 2 : 142 )

In “Osen’ (otryvok)” (Autumn [a fragment], 1833 ), Pushkin describes au-

tumn as chakhotochnaia deva(a consumptive maiden). “Mne ona mila...

ulybka na ustakh uvianuvshikh vidna” (she is dear to me... a smile can

be seen on her withered lips) (Sobranie sochinenii, 2 : 309–10).

We find similar images of nature as woman and Other in the poetry

of Del’vig, Tiutchev, Lermontov, Iazykov, and Fet. In “Dshcher’ khladna

l’da!” (Daughter of cold ice! 1812–13), Del’vig characterizes the Russian

winter as “Boginia razrushen’ia... rossiian mat’“ (Goddess of destruc-

tion... mother of Russians). His “Luna” (The moon, 1822 ) identifies

the moon with the perfidious (kovarnaia) Lila.^37 Tiutchev anthropomor-

phizes both winter and spring as women: winter as a spiteful witch

(ved’ma zlaia) (“Vesna” [Spring, 1836 ]), and spring as a beautiful and

powerful queen (“Vesennie vody” [Spring waters, 1832 ] and “Vesna”

[Spring, 1839 ]).

In Lermontov’s “Morskaia tsarevna” (The sea princess, 1841 ), a

prince struggles with and kills a sexually aggressive female nature fig-

ure, a mermaid. In “Vecher” (Evening, 1830–31) and “Noch’“ (Night,

1830–31), the speaker identifies natural settings with a woman’s incon-

stancy. Iazykov goes even further, merging nature and women into ob-

50 Literary Conventions