Dear Carolyn,
I know about the acrostic. I doubt that it was
intended by Derzhavin (although it is true that Derzhavin liked acrostics and
had composed one or two of them in the past). Khodasevich's theory, according to
which Derzhavin's eight lines are a beginning of an unfinished poem, is
very convincing. By the way, the poem's imagery was influenced by
the picture "The River of Time, ot the Emblematic Representation of
the World History" that hung on the wall of Derzhavin's room.
The phrase руина чти formed by the first
letters of Derzhavin's eight lines can be translated as "the ruin,
honor." Чти is imperative mood of the verb чтить (honor),
not читать (read). Imperative mood of the verb читать would
be читай.
If it is an acrostic after all, I
suggest it is an unfinished one that should have continued as follows:
руина чти останки Державина ("the tombstone, honor the remains
of Derzhavin;" by руина Derzhavin could have meant the tombstone on
his future grave). It means that, if completed, the poem would have
consisted of twenty four lines (in other words, there should have
been four more stanzas). Of course, this is only my
hypothesis.
Alexey Sklyarenko