Stepan Petrovich Shevyryov (Степа′н Петро′вич Шевырё′в, October 30 (18), 1806

1806 in literature

-New books:*Harriet Butler - Vensenshon*Catherine Cuthbertson - Santo Sebastiano*Charlotte Dacre - Zofloya*Maria Edgeworth - Leonora*Sophia Frances - Vivonio*William Herbert -The Spanish Outlaw...

, Saratov

Saratov

-Modern Saratov:The Saratov region is highly industrialized, due in part to the rich in natural and industrial resources of the area. The region is also one of the more important and largest cultural and scientific centres in Russia...

, Russian Empire

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

, - May 20 (8), 1864

1864 in literature

The year 1864 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:*Ambrose Bierce is wounded at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain.*Charles Baudelaire leaves Paris for Belgium in the hope of resolving his financial difficulties....

, Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

) was a Russian

Russians

The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....

 poet

Poetry

Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...

, translator, literary critic and philologist

Philology

Philology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...

. As a scholar, Shevyryov was best known for his studies of Old Russian religious texts (specifically, those held by the Vatican library

Vatican Library

The Vatican Library is the library of the Holy See, currently located in Vatican City. It is one of the oldest libraries in the world and contains one of the most significant collections of historical texts. Formally established in 1475, though in fact much older, it has 75,000 codices from...

) and translations of Dante

DANTE

Delivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe is a not-for-profit organisation that plans, builds and operates the international networks that interconnect the various national research and education networks in Europe and surrounding regions...

; he is regarded as Russia's first Danteologist. Shevyryov has also made an impact as an innovative poet who experimented with rhythms and structures. He is credited as being a founder of the so-called "poetry of thought" movement which defied Pushkin-set harmony in preference to more angular and rough, but intellectually deeper verse, of which Vladimir Benediktov and Nikolay Yazykov

Nikolay Yazykov

Nikolay Mikhailovich Yazykov was a Russian poet and Slavophile who in the 1820s rivalled Alexander Pushkin and Yevgeny Baratynsky as the most popular poet of his generation....

 were seen as precursors.

Labeled a 'Russian nationalist

Russian nationalism

Russian nationalism is a term referring to a Russian form of nationalism. Russian nationalism has a long history dating from the days of Muscovy to Russian Empire, and continued in some form in the Soviet Union. It is closely related to Pan-Slavism...

' (and, by default, 'a reactionary') by influential radicals like Belinsky

Vissarion Belinsky

Vissarion Grigoryevich Belinsky was a Russian literary critic of Westernizing tendency. He was an associate of Alexander Herzen, Mikhail Bakunin , and other critical intellectuals...

 and Dobrolyubov, Stepan Shevyryov was forced to leave Russia in 1857. He died in Paris in 1864 and for half a century remained in oblivion. In 1930s the renewal interest in Shevyryov's legacy led to several publications, including a 1939 compilation of his poetry in 2 volumes. In 1962 the collection of professor Shevyryov's lectures was published in Moscow.

Modern critics are divided as to where Shevyryov’s poetic legacy belongs to. Some regard him as part of the Tyutchevian strand (alongside Fyodor Tyutchev

Fyodor Tyutchev

Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev is generally considered the last of three great Romantic poets of Russia, following Alexander Pushkin and Mikhail Lermontov.- Life :...

, Fyodor Glinka

Fyodor Glinka

Fyodor Nikolaevich Glinka was a Russian poet and author.-Biography:Glinka was born at Smolensk in 1786, and was specially educated for the army. In 1803 he obtained a commission as an officer, and two years later took part in the Austrian campaign...

 and Aleksey Khomyakov

Aleksey Khomyakov

Aleksey Stepanovich Khomyakov was a Russian religious poet who co-founded the Slavophile movement along with Ivan Kireyevsky, and became one of its most distinguished theoreticians....

among others), some see him and his "poetry of thought" invention as something that stands on its own and ahead of its time, akin more to formal experiments of the XX century Russian poetry.

Select works

• History of Poetry (2 volumes, Moscow, 1835; Saint Petersburg, 1892).
• Theory of Poetry in its Historical Development, Old and New (Moscow, 1836)
• The History of Old Russian Literature (4 volumes, Moscow, 1846-1860).