Petrov, Vasilii Petrovich

Petrov, Vasilii Petrovich 

Born in 1736 in Moscow; died Dec. 4 (15), 1799. Russian poet.

Petrov attended the Zaikonospasskii Theological Seminary and later taught there. His literary renown began with the Ode on a Carrousel (1766). Petrov gained the patronage of the Empress Catherine II with his eulogistic odes and epistles to her and her favorites, but many contemporaries ridiculed the poet’s servility and parodied his pompous verses. However, his lyrical works are not devoid of literary merit. Other works by Petrov include translations of Virgil’s Aeneid in alexandrines and of three books of Milton’s Paradise Lost.

WORKS

[“Stikhotvoreniia.”] In Poety XVIII v., vol. 1. Leningrad, 1972.

REFERENCES

Shliapkin, I. A. “V. P. Petrov.” In Russkaia poeziia, fasc. 2. Edited by S. A. Vengerov. St. Petersburg, 1893.
Gukovskii, G. A. “Petrov.” In Istoriia russkoi literatury, vol. 4, part 2. Moscow-Leningrad, 1947.
Serman, I. Z. “Russkaia poeziia vtoroi poloviny XVIII veka.” In Istoriia russkoi poezii, vol. 1. Leningrad, 1968.

N. D. KOCHETKOVA