his official life, Derzhavin wrote a great deal;
towards the end of his life, much dramatic matter; yet he really belongs
to the ranks of the lyric poets. He deserved all the fame he enjoyed,
because he was the first poet who was so by inspiration, not merely by
profession or ambition. Even in his most insignificant works of the
stereotyped sort, with much sound and very little thought and feeling,
the hand of a master is visible, and talent is perceptible; while many
passages are remarkable for their poetic figures, melody of
versification, and beauty and force of expression. No poet previous to
Pushkin can be compared to him for talent, and for direct, independent
inspiration. His poetry is chiefly the poetry of figures and events, of
solemn, loudly trumpeted victories and feats, descriptions of banquets,
festivals, noisy social life, and endless hymns of praise to the age of
Katherine II. It is not very rich in inward contents or in ideas. But he
possessed one surpassing merit: he, first of all among Russian poets,
brought poetry down from its lofty, classical flights to the every-day
life of his fatherland at that age, and to nature, and freed Russian
poetry from that monotonous, stilted, tiresome, official form which had
been introduced by Lomonosoff and copied by all the latter's followers.
Derzhavin's language is powerful, picturesque, and expressive, but still
harsh and uneven, the ordinary vernacular being mingled with
Church-Slavonic, and frequently obscuring the meaning; also, and owing
to his deficient education, he often had recourse to inelegant,
tasteless forms. If we compare him with Lomonosoff and Sumarokoff, it is
evident that Russian poetry had made a great stride in advance under
him, both as to external and internal development, in that he not only
brought it nearer to life, but also perfected its forms, to a
considerable degree, and applied it to subjects to which his
predecessors would never have dreamed of applying it. His famous ode
"God" will best serve to illustrate his style:

GOD[5]

O Thou eternal One! whose presence bright
All space doth occupy, all motion guide;
Unchanged through time's all-devastating flight;
Thou only God! There is no God beside!
Being above all beings! Three in One!
Whom none can comprehend and none explore;
Who fill'st existence with _thyself_ alone:
Embracing all,--supporting,--ruling o'er,--
Being whom we call GOD--and kn