Khomiakov, “Po prochtenii psalma” (On reading a psalm, 1856 ); Mil’keev,
“Uteshenie” (Consolation, 1843 ); “Zatvornitsy” (The hermitesses, 1843 ); Guber,
“Molitva” (Prayer, 1839 ), “Moia molitva” (My prayer, 1859 ); Miller, “V sviatie dni
Khristovi Voskresen’ia” (In the holy days of Christ’s resurrection, 1881 ).
52 .I base this discussion of the prichitanie on Chistov, introduction to Prichi-
taniia,5–46. The prichitanie is also known as prichet’, vop, voi, zhal, krik, plach,
zaplachka, goloshenie.Chistov writes that in the past prichitaniiamay also have
been performed to mourn other community events such as fires and famines ( 5 ).
On Russian accentual and metrical verse, see Scherr, Russian Poetry.Natalie
Kononenko notes the many similarities between the lament and the epic, and
argues for their common origin “Women as Performers of Oral Literature,”
18–33.
53 .Stuart Curran similarly observes that when a Romantic poet “sets out to
write a villanelle or an ode, no less than a sonnet, the first question is not one of
subject matter but of the logic inherent in the form.... The formal structuring
principle in large part predetermines ideological orientation.... Generic choice
has already committed [the poet] to... a mode of apprehension. It is an ideo-
logical construct and it may be in place, forcing choice, before a word is written
or the subject matter is even conceived” (Poetic Form and British Romanticism,
10–11).
54 .Kiukhel’beker (in the previously mentioned essay “O napravelenii
nashei poezii,” 1824 ) attacks the elegy and praises the ode. Pushkin responded
by ridiculing Kiukhel’beker in Evgenii Onegin(IV, 32 , ll.14–33): “Pishite ody,
gospoda,” etc.
55 .Abrams, Natural Supernaturalism, 255. For quests ending in union with
the feminine other, see Miller, “Sonety” ( 1872 ) and Maikov, “Sny” ( 1855 ).
56 .Perry, “Romanticism,” 3–11. In Russia, Viazemskii doubted the existence
of a Romantic movement (Brown, History of Russian Literature of the Romantic Pe-
riod, 2 : 59 ).
57 .Gerhart Hoffmeister, ed., European Romanticism: Literary Cross-Currents,
Modes, and Models(Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1990 ).
58 .Bakunina, “Otryvok iz skazaniia v stikhakh Iulianiia Nikomidiiskaia,” in
Sbornik v pol’zu bednykh semeistv Basmannogo otdeleniia na 1849 (Moskva: Tip A.
Semena, 1849 ), 39–42.
In these women’s poetry, female desire is depicted in terms of its effects on
the woman. In Garelina’s “Druz’ia moi! Ne smeites’ nado mnoi” (My friends!
Don’t laugh at me, 1870 ), for example, the speaker cries, misses her beloved,
thinks about him all the time, and loses interest in everything else. In Teplova’s
“K.. .” (To.. ., 1830 ) the speaker’s spirit is troubled, her breast excited, her heart
anguished. See also Gotovtseva “K. P.,” Literaturnyi Muzeum na 1827 ,and “ 31 -e
dekabria,” Literaturnaia gazeta,no. 38 (Sept. 18 , 1847 ): 597 ; Lisitsyna , “K. N....
N.. .” (To N... N... , 1829 ); Pavlova, “Donna Inezil’ia” ( 1842 ); Rostopchina,
Neizvestnyi roman(An unknown romance, 1856 ); Teplova, “K. O. F.” (To O. F.,
1847 ); Zhadovskaia, “Vzgliad” (A glance, 1885 ).
Compare with men poets’ depiction of male desire. In Iazykov’s “Pesnia (Ia
zhdu tebia, kogda vechernei mgloiu)” (Song [I wait for you when like an evening
mist], 1829 ) the speaker waits for a woman at dusk to reveal her eyes, mouth,
250 Notes to Pages 79–84