Vasilii Ivanovich Maikov was one of the most gifted poets of his age. He successfully tried his hand in several literary genres and made pioneering contributions to the mock epic, the fable, and the ode. Maikov's almost complete lack of knowledge of foreign languages, which made him the object of occasional ridicule, also prevented him from being taken seriously as a poet on a par with Gavriil Derzhavin, fifteen years his junior. Maikov shared a whole series of personal traits and biographical details with the younger poet, including a provincial background, simple beginnings as a soldier, and brash behavior coupled with utter honesty. The two writers ran in the same literary and official circles, so that comparison between them is useful in gauging the development of Maikov's career and art. Despite Maikov's present relative obscurity, there is no question that in the years prior to 1779, in which Derzhavin...