The Poetic Device and the Problem of Sincerity in Gavrila Derzhavin's Verse

This article presents, through historically contextualized close readings of Derzhavin's poetry, a new approach to the study of sincerity in verse. Rather than look at sincerity per se (and its potential ideological and rhetorical inconsistencies), the author examines the 'sincere voice', exploring the pragmatic framings and especially the ephemeral poetic devices which facilitate its inscription in verse. He argues that the sincere voice must be continually inscribed anew in lyric poetry and analyses examples of both success and failure in this regard in Derzhavin's oeuvre. The article begins with a reading of 'Felitsa' (1782) - the audible sincerity of which is confirmed in contemporaries' reactions - centring on the subtle modulations and shifts in dynamics, not reducible to stylistics, which help to generate the sense of a 'human' voice in the poem. The poetic devices Derzhavin developed in 'Felitsa' are then contrasted to a different set of innovations which structure 'Izobrazhenie Felitsy' ('Felitsa's Portrait', 1789) and which fail in the end, for various reasons, to generate the sincere voice, as reflected in the uneasiness both poet and readers have demonstrated regarding this latter poem's sincerity. The article ends with a reading of 'Na Schast'e' ('On Fortune', 1789), examining the impact of Derzhavin's construction of an ironic odic strophe and his structuring of a proto-lyric hero speaking with both candour and reticence. This reading takes particular note of Derzhavin's use of various types of irony, including self-deprecating irony, as a component of the sincere voice.