Editing Gavrila Derzhavin (section)

==Works==
[[File:Iordan-Derzhavin.jpg|thumb|left|Posthumous engraving of Derzhavin by [[Fyodor Iordan]]]]
Derzhavin is best remembered for his [[ode]]s, dedicated to the Empress and other courtiers. He paid little attention to the prevailing system of [[genre]]s, and many a time would fill an ode with elegiac, humorous, or satiric contents. In his grand ode to the Empress, for instance, he mentions searching for fleas in his wife's hair and compares his own poetry with lemonade.

Unlike other Classicist poets, Derzhavin found delight in carefully chosen details, such as a colour of wallpaper in his bedroom or a poetic inventory of his daily meal. He believed that French was a language of harmony but that Russian was a language of conflict. Although he relished harmonious [[alliteration]]s, sometimes he deliberately instrumented his verse with [[phonaesthetics|cacophonous]] effect.

Derzhavin's major odes were the impeccable "On the Death of Prince Meschersky" (1779); the playful "Ode to Felica" (1782); the lofty "[[Derzhavin's ode to God|God]]" (1785), which was translated into many European languages; "Waterfall" (1794), occasioned by the death of [[Grigori Alexandrovich Potemkin|Prince Potemkin]]; and "Bullfinch" (1800), a poignant elegy on the death of his friend [[Suvorov]]. He also provided lyrics for the first Russian national anthem, "[[Grom pobedy, razdavajsya!|Let the thunder of victory sound!]]"[[File:RR5009-0007R BU 250-летие со дня рождения Г.Р.Державина.png|thumb|200px|[[List of commemorative coins of Russia (1993)|1993 Russian 1 rouble coin]] commemorating the 250th anniversary of Derzhavin's birth]]