SOURCE: Spitzer, Catherine. “Alexander Sumarokov's Translations of Paul Fleming's Sonnets to Moscow.” Canadian-American Slavic Studies 23, no. 3 (fall 1989): 331-38.

In the following essay, Spitzer discusses Sumarokov's translation of three sonnets by the German lyric poet Paul Fleming, arguing that Sumarokov freely changed the content of the original verse, “beautifying” the poetry and imbuing it with a definite eighteenth-century Russian classicism.

The purpose of this study is to discuss Alexander Sumarokov's translations of three sonnets written by Paul Fleming¹ in 1636, entitled in German: Er redet die Stadt Moskau an, als er ihre vergueldeten Tuerme von fernen sahe, An die grosse Stadt Moskau, als er schiede, and An den Fluss Moskau, als er schiede. In 1755, Sumarokov translated these titles into a simpler and shortened version as: “Moskve,” “Velikomu gradu Moskve,” and “Moskve-reke.” This short analysis provides a rare glimpse into Sumarokov's activity as a literary translator and poet in his own...