“Poetry was a natural echo of his life”: The Presidential Library spotlights the literary work of Denis Davydov

July 27, 2022 marks the 238th anniversary since the birth of Denis Davydov, hero of the War of 1812, the most famous Russian hussar, whom Napoleon considered his personal enemy.

The Presidential Library’s portal features the collection Patriotic War of 1812 that tells about the military events, in which Davydov participated. A separate collection is dedicated to the guerilla movement, organized by him.

“His name was followed by a whole epic of heroic deeds, significance of which was close to legendary”, military historian General Vaslily Potto said in the essay on Davydov featured in the book The Caucasion War in separate essays, episodes, legends and biographies (1900).

Denis Davydov is famous not only for his feats though. In the words of Vissarion Belinsky featured in the foreword of the collection Poems and articles / Denis Davydov (1942), he “was remarkable as a poet, as a military writer, as an author overall, and as a warrior… as a person, as a character”. Even though Davydov wrote periodically and described himself: “I’m not a poet, I’m a partisan, a Cossack”, he left a significant mark on the domestic literature.

Author of the biography The Partisan-Poet Denis Vasilyevich Davydov (1913), available in the electronic reading rooms of the Presidential Library, officer and military writer Victor Zherve wrote: “Oddly enough, many people don’t even know that Davydov was a poet not only in his soul, but a creator of wonderful poetic works… <…> For Davydov, poetry was a natural echo of his life”. It’s no surprise that even the best representatives of Russian literature of the time – Pushkin, Karamzin, Zhukovsky, Baratynsky, Yazykov considered him to be a spiritually close person.

In the article of the Encyclopedic Dictionary (1893) published by Friedrich Brockhaus and Ilya Yefron, it is stated that Davydov’s poetic works “are not distinguished neither by depth of the content, nor by refinement of style, but they do have one strength – originality”. In the words of Zherve, Pushkin, answering to the question of how he managed to avoid copying Zhukovsky and Batyushkov in his early poems, said: “I owe it to Denis Davydov. He let me realize that it is possible to be original”.

Zherve, analyzing Davydov’s poetic works, quotes Belinsky on the “hussar” poems of the poet-partisan: “what others write so vulgarly, sugary, tastelessly and insultingly to the feelings… Davydov gives it meaning, fills it with life, elevates it by form”. The critic wrote about the elegies: “Passion is a primary feeling in Davydov’s love songs; but how noble is this passion, how full of poetry and grace…”.

In the magazine Otechestvennye zapiski (1840), it is written about the publication of Davydov’s works: “Davydov’s talent is not great, but wonderful, unique and vivid… For the military people, Davydov’s poems should have a special meaning… <…> As a prosaist, Davydov has a full right to stand alongside the best prose writers of Russian literarute”.

Denis Davydov’s prose is divided by the aforementioned encyclopedic dictionary in two categories - “essays based on personal memories, and historical and polemical essays”. Victor Zherve believed The Diary of Partisan’s Actions to be the most valuable work by Davydov, as it was written vividly and lightly, but at the same time was based on the historical material. Another famous work of Davydov, Experience of the Partisan Movement, was well received by Pushkin.

Denis Davydov, being an expert and an admirer of military affairs, wrote several general essays on the Patrioric War of 1812 and the foreign campaigns of 1813-1814, as well as a number of essays on war he participated in and people he knew from the battlefield – On the partisan war, Capture of Dresden, Notes on the Polish campaign of 1831, Memory of the Battle of Preussisch-Eylau, Bagration, and others.

“A man of big, great abilities, talented warrior, extraordinary commander… original writer, inspired poet… one of the worthiest sons of Russia, who selflessly shed his blood for it”, Victor Zherve wrote about Denis Davydov, calling him “a noble knight in the true meaning of the word”.