ut sang them. The local book-seller was the first to recognize his
poetical tendency, and in a degree, guided him on the right road with a
"Russian Prosody," and other suitable books, such as the works of
Zhukovsky, Pushkin, and other contemporary poets. A passion for writing
poetry was in the air in the '20's. But although he yielded to this and
to the promptings of his genius, it was a long time before he was able
to clothe his thoughts in tolerable form. An unhappy love had a powerful
influence on the development of his poetical talent, and his versified
efforts suddenly became fervent songs of love and hate, of melancholy,
soulful cries of grief and woe, full of melodious expressions of the
world about him. One of Byelinsky's friends, whose family lived near
Voronezh, made his acquaintance, read his poems and applauded much in
them. Three years later, in 1833, at the request and expense of this new
friend, Koltzoff published a small collection, containing eighteen poems
selected by him, which showed that he possessed an original and really
noteworthy poetical gift. In 1835 Koltzoff visited St. Petersburg and
made acquaintance with Pushkin, Zhukovsky, and many other literary men,
and between 1836 and 1838 his fame penetrated even to the knowledge of
the citizens in his native town. He continued to aid his father in
business, but his heart was elsewhere--he longed for the intellectual
companionship of his friends in Moscow, and all this rendered him
extremely unhappy. In 1840 he spent three months with Byelinsky in St.
Petersburg, and after that he remained in Voronezh, had another unhappy
love affair, and dreamed continually of the possibility of quitting the
place for good. But his father would not give him a kopek for such a
purpose. His health gave way, and he died in 1842, aged thirty-three.

His poems are few in number, and the best of them belong to an entirely
peculiar style, which he alone in Russian literature possesses, to which
he alone imparted significance--the ballad, the national ballad compact,
powerful, rich in expression, and highly artistic. The charm of
nationality is so great, as expressed in Koltzoff's songs, that it is
almost impossible to read them; one wants to sing them as the author
sang the verses of others in his boyhood. Even his peculiar measures,
which are not at all adapted to popular songs, do not destroy the
harmonious impression made by them, and such pieces as "The Forest,"
"The Ba