Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Impressions of Russian Literature - II
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particular was love for the family, for kinsmen, and
regarded as a duty, among the Hebrews love for the
whole tribe, and, at the highest point, love for the whole
of mankind, and was regarded as a religion; the Russian
sentiment, according to the derivation of the words, is
caressing and full of charm, exclusively a natural instinct,
far less conscious, circumspect, and trustworthy, always
wholly involuntary.
The domain of Russian love is the tender flattery
which expresses itself in innumerable ingratiating
diminutives. Of liubov, love, as a woman’s name, the common
people make use of the names Liuba, Liubka, Liubkascha,
Liubaschenka, Liubashetchka, Liubotchka, Liubutchka,
Liubushenka, Liubushetchka, Liubenka, and even many
others, each with its different shade of tenderness and
caressing. And, however numerous the linguistic
expressions for the sentiments and moods of love are,
naturally just as numerous are the sentiments and
moods themselves.[1]
Here is a short erotic poem, which is typical: —
“Thou ash tree, oh, thou full of branches! — when
didst thou sprout, when didst thou grow up? — Thou
ash tree, oh, thou full of branches! — when wast thou in
blossom, and when didst thou ripen?”
“I sprouted in spring, shot up in summer — I was in
blossom in the spring, became a tree in the summer.”
“Under thee there grows, under thee, thou Ash! — no
poppy flowers and no grass, — there grows no grass, there
burns no fire. — There burns no fire, yet a heart so warm.
— Yet the heart so warm in a youth’s breast — it burns,
burns, nay, boils like pitch — boils in longing for, my
little swan — my swan, my dove, my little soul, — my
charming dove, my dearly beloved. —
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