The image of a Russian noble lady in the poetry of Charles de Lin

UDC 82.133.1(493)-1

https://doi.org/10.20339/PhS.4-21.100             

Chirkin Sergey А.,

Candidate of History, Associate Professor

of the History and Philosophy Department

Vyatka State Agrotechnological University

e-mail: s_tchirkin@mail.ru

The article considers a series of poems by Prince Charles de Lin (1735–1814), dedicated to Russian women of the Catherine era. The novelty of the research is that these poems have not yet been studied and published in Russian. A description of the Prince de Lin’s relations with Russia is presented. The list of poetic messages of the “Russian cycle”is given. Information is given about the personalities of the addressees-representatives of the highest (titled) Russian aristocracy of the second half of the XVIII and early XIX centuries. The circumstances of the creation of individual poems, which caused their pathos, are indicated. A genre classification of works is proposed — madrigals, poems in albums, humorous songs. The above quotes indicate the collective image created by Prince de Lin of a high-class Russian lady of the end of the Enlightenment era. It is a whimsical combination of grandeur, coquetry, piety, courtesy, and artistic taste. With all the unique personality of each addressee, we see the personification of beauty and tenderness, refinement and kinship. The generally idealized view of the enlightened Belgian on the Russian high society of that era, when emancipation and cosmopolitan education of noblewomen were already more than a century old, has a certain historical significance and deserves attention in the light of the dialogue between the two cultures.

Keywords: Charles de Ligne, Russia, poetry, aristocracy, women.

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