Lord Byron. Lyrical poetry translated by Georgy Shengeli

Abstract

The book features Byron’s early poems Hours of Idleness, hitherto unpublished in Russian, as well as selected poems from 1809–1811 and 1816, and Hebrew Melodies. The book is relevant within the context of Byron’s legacy and Shengeli’s work. It is since the late 1980s that Shengeli’s previously unpublished poems have appeared in press, and we are on a path to better understanding the scope of his achievements. The book opens with Vladislav Rezvy’s excellent introduction to Shengeli’s life and work. Despite the article’s many merits, it still fails to discuss one important topic: Shengeli’s perception of Byron, the ‘comprehensive assimilation of the ideas, imagery, style and poetic techniques’ as described by A. Veselovsky in his time.