Vasily Ivanovich Maykov (; 1728 – 28 June 1778) was a Russian poet,

fabulist Fable is a literary genre defined as a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a partic ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

and

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

. He was an exponent of the

mock-heroic Mock-heroic, mock-epic or heroi-comic works are typically satires or parodies that mock common Classical stereotypes of heroes and heroic literature. Typically, mock-heroic works either put a fool in the role of the hero or exaggerate the heroic ...

poetry genre in Russia. As a playwright, Maykov followed the tradition set by Alexander Sumarokov but, alongside heroic tragedies (''Agriope'', Агриопа, 1775), wrote some comedies too (''The Country Holiday or a Rewarded Virtue'', Деревенский праздник, или Увенчанная добродетель, 1777), occasionally mixing the two genres. As a lyrical poet, he is said to have provided a link between the two eras in Russian poetry, that of

Mikhail Lomonosov Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov (; , ; – ) was a Russian polymath, scientist and writer, who made important contributions to literature, education, and science. Among his discoveries were the atmosphere of Venus and the law of conservation of ...

on the one hand and

Gavriil Derzhavin Gavriil (Gavrila) Romanovich Derzhavin (, ; 14 July 1743 – 20 July 1816) was one of the most highly esteemed Russian poets before Alexander Pushkin, as well as a statesman. Although his works are traditionally considered literary classicis ...

, on another. What Maykov really excelled at, though, was ironic verse, and it was the comedy ''The Ombre Player'' (Игрок ломбера) that made him famous in 1763. The Works by Maykov were first compiled in 1809, to be revised and re-issued by

Pyotr Yefremov Pyotr Alexandrovich Yefremov (; November 17, 1830 (Old Style and New Style dates, O.S., 2) in Moscow, Russian Empire – January 8, 1908 .S. December 26, 1907in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire) was a Russians, Russian literary historian, publ ...

in 1867. In the Soviet Union, ''The Selected Works by V. I. Maykov'' were published in 1966 by Sovetsky Pisatel.Timofeev, L.I.
Майков В. И.
in the Soviet Literary Encyclopedia in 11 Volumes. Vol. 6, 1932. Pp. 700-701 // Литературная энциклопедия: В 11 т. — �. 1929—1939. Т. 6. «Сов. Энцикл.», 1932. — Стр. 700—701.

References

People from Yaroslavl 1728 births 1778 deaths Dramatists and playwrights from the Russian Empire Male poets from the Russian Empire Male writers from the Russian Empire 18th-century poets from the Russian Empire 18th-century dramatists and playwrights Russian male dramatists and playwrights 18th-century male writers from the Russian Empire {{Russia-poet-stub