SACRED LEGACY ARCHIVES™

Vasily Zhukovsky

1783-02-09 – 1852-04-24

Portrait of Vasily A. Zhukovskylabel QS:Len,"Portrait of Vasily A. Zhukovsky"label QS:Lde,"Porträt Wassili A. Schukowski"label QS:Lru,"Портрет Василия Андреевича Жуковского"Credit: Orest Kiprensky

Life & Legacy

Vasily Andreyevich Zhukovsky (Russian: Василий Андреевич Жуковский; 9 February [O.S. 29 January] 1783 – 24 April [O.S. 12 April] 1852) was the foremost Russian poet of the 1810s and a leading figure in Russian literature in the first half of the 19th century. He held a high position at the Romanov court as tutor to the Grand Duchess Alexandra Feodorovna and later to her son, the future tsar Alexander II.
Zhukovsky is credited with introducing the Romantic movement into Russia. The main body of his literary output consists of free translations covering an impressively wide range of poets, from ancients like Ferdowsi and Homer to his contemporaries Goethe, Schiller, Byron, and others. Many of his translations have become classics of Russian literature, regarded by some to be better written and more enduring in Russian than in their original languages.

Occupation & Career

linguist, poet, translator, writer, literary critic, teacher, librettist

Education

Moscow university boarding school

Accomplishments, Inventions & Publications

Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts order; Order of Saint Anna, 1st class; Order of Saint Anna, 2nd class; Order of the White Eagle; Order of Saint Stanislaus, 1st class; Order of St. Vladimir, 3rd class; Order of St. Vladimir, 2nd class; Order of the Iron Crown (Kingdom of Italy); Order of the Red Eagle; Civil Order of Saxony; Royal Order of the Welfs; Friedrich Order; Order of the Zähringer Lion; Order of the White Falcon; Order of the Netherlands Lion; Royal Order of the Polar Star; Order of the Dannebrog; Order of Saint Anna, 2nd class with diamonds; Pour le Mérite; Order of St. Vladimir; Order of Saint Stanislaus

Legacy Highlights

Honors & Awards

Civil Order of Saxony · Friedrich Order · Order of Saint Anna, 1st class · Order of Saint Anna, 2nd class · Order of Saint Anna, 2nd class with diamonds · Order of Saint Stanislaus · Order of Saint Stanislaus, 1st class · Order of St. Vladimir · Order of St. Vladimir, 2nd class · Order of St. Vladimir, 3rd class · Order of the Dannebrog · Order of the Iron Crown (Kingdom of Italy) · Order of the Netherlands Lion · Order of the Red Eagle · Order of the White Eagle · Order of the White Falcon · Order of the Zähringer Lion · Pour le Mérite · Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts order · Royal Order of the Polar Star · Royal Order of the Welfs