SOURCE: Dabars, Zita Dapkus. “The Simile in the Poetry of Sumarokov, Karamzin, and Derzhavin.” Russian Literature Triquarterly 7 (1973): 389-406.

In the following excerpt, Dabars examines the use of similes in Sumarokov's poetry, claiming that while the writer's neoclassicism is reflected in the emphasis he places on reason and common sense, his use of imagery shows that he also had some affinities with the sentimentalists and later Romantics.

Sumarokov was of the opinion that poetic speech should be characterized by simplicity, clarity, and restrained good sense. And indeed the impression conveyed by Sumarokov's similes is that their creator is a highly rational man who embellished his poetry with imagery in which logic plays a significant role. Reason and logic were revered by the neoclassicists. Sumarokov's allegiance to the above principles led him to demand logical, semantic similarity between the tenor and the vehicle of a simile. In 1747 Sumarokov wrote “Kritika...