BARATYNSKII (properly BORATYNSKII), Evgenii Abramovich, Russian poet: b. 10 Feb. 1800; d. 29 June 1844. He was educated in the page-corps, from which he was expelled in 1816. Later (1820) he joined an infantry regi ment in Finland, where he became an officer. In 1825 he married, retired from military serv ice and traveled extensively through Germany, France and Italy. He started writing poetry very early in life and had the good fortune to become intimately connected with Pushkin, Gnedich, Pletnevyi and other young and gifted poets whose friendship undoubtedly influenced the development and direction of his talent. His lyric poems soon gained him a prominent place in the number of Pushlcin's poetic circle of the so-called °romanticists.° In the midst of the savage nature of Finland the romantic nature of the poet grew more powerful, but the predominant quality of his poetry is the elegiac tone, especially in his (Eda) (1826). This poem was soon followed by (Balt) (Or gie,' (Gypsy-Girl,' 'in which the poet excels in original simplicity, choice of figures and lively colors, but in which he shows the pow erful influence of Pushkin and Byron. With
regard to technique he is a true master of form and rhyme and some enthusiasts have placed him much higher than Pushkin himself as a versifier. But the main characteristic of his poetry is meditation and absence of true emo tion, the chief requisite for a true master piece in lyricism; in his poetry there is no trace of that sentimentality that is so abun dant in the work of his models. As a thinker he is destitute of the definite and his charac ters are but shadows in a mirror which leave no deep impression despite their exqtusite ex terior form. The best of his lyrics are un doubtedly (Finland,' (The Last Poet> and (On the Death of Goethe.' A collective edition of his works appeared for the first time in 1827 (2d ed., Moscow 1835), from which many Ger man and French translations have been made. Consult (Russki Arkhiv) (1868, pp. 141-47 and 866-72); Koenig, (Litterarische Bilder aus Russland.'