Ada's favorite ancestor, Prince Vseslav Zemski (1699-1797),
was a friend of Linnaeus and author of Flora Ladorica (1.6). His son,
Prince Peter Zemski (1772-1832), was a Governor of Bras d'Or, "an American
province in the Northeast of our great and variegated country" (1.1). Ada who
adores violets and who calls Violet Knox (old Van's secretary,
5.4) 'Fialochka' would certainly know and love Viola
Labradorica (alpine violet):
In his essay Dmitriev (1937), written for the
centenary of the poet's death, Hodasevich quotes Dmitriev's fable Repeynik i
fialka (The Burdock and The Violet, 1824) as a good sample
of Dmitriev's poetry:
РЕПЕЙНИК И ФИАЛКА
Между
репейником и розовым кустом
Фиялочка себя от зависти скрывала;
Безвестною
была, но горести не знала:
Тот счастлив, кто своим доволен
уголком.
Between a burdock and a rose bush
the little violet [Fiyalochka] hid
herself from envy;
she was obscure, but knew no grief:
happy is he who is pleased with his
corner.
A friend of Pushkin, Prince Peter Vyazemski (1792-1878), is the author of
Dom Ivan Ivanovicha Dmitrieva ("The House of Ivan Ivanovich Dmitriev,"
1860), a poem in Alexandrines. Hodasevich's essay on Vyazemski, written for the
fiftieth anniversary of the poet's death, is entitled Shchastlivyi
Vyazemski ("Happy Vyazemski"). Hodasevich's second book of poetry was
entitled Schastlivyi domik ("The Happy Small House," 1914). Its title
was borrowed from Pushkin's poem Domovomu ("To the House-Spirit,"
1819). Pushkin is the author Domik v Kolomne ("The Small Cottage
in Kolomna," 1830), a narrative poem in octaves. Vyazemski appears in Canto
Eight of Pushkin's Eugene Onegin. Dmitriev is mentioned the drafts of
EO (Eight: Two: 5).
In a letter of Sept. 19, 1818, to Alexander Turgenev Dmitriev
(1760-1837) calls young Pushkin "a beautiful flower of poetry that will not
fade soon" (EO Commentary, vol. III, p. 142). See also my post
'Fialochka in Ada' (Dec. 12, 2013).
Alexey Sklyarenko
