SOURCE: Kalbouss, George. “Rhyming Patterns in Griboedov's Gore ot uma.” Slavic and East European Journal 39, no. 1 (spring 1995): 1-13.

In the following essay, Kalbouss analyzes the rhyming patterns of Woe from Wit, claiming that Griboedov skillfully demonstrated the importance of rhyming as a form of entertainment in early nineteenth-century Moscow.

1994 marked 200 years since the birth of Aleksandr Sergeevič Griboedov, the author known primarily for one significant work, Gore ot uma (Woe From Wit). The fame of this play has generated scores of studies, ranging from biographies of Griboedov's life to more formal analyses of the play's poetics. This study focuses on one formal aspect of this play—its rhyming patterns. In Griboedov's day, rhyming was a form of social entertainment. A person was considered only as clever as his rhymes. Since historians agree that in Woe From Wit Griboedov captures much of the essence of Muscovite culture of the...