t is described from the inside, and not
from the outside. This is the great difference between Koltsov and
other popular poets who came later. Moreover, he caught and
reproduced the true _Volkston_ in his lyrics, so that they are
indistinguishable in accent from real folk-poetry. Koltsov sings of
the woods, and the rustling rye, of harvest time and sowing; the song
of the love-sick girl reaping; the lonely grave; the vague dreams and
desires of the peasant's heart. His pictures have the dignity and
truth of Jean Francois Millet, and his "lyrical cry" is as authentic
as that of Burns. His more literary poems are like Burns' English
poems compared with his work in the Scots. But he died the year after
Lermontov, of consumption, and with his death the curtain was rung
down on the first act of Russian literature. When it was next rung up,
it was on the age of prose.

CHAPTER IV

THE AGE OF PROSE

When the curtain again rose on Russian literature it was on an era of
prose; and the leading protagonist of that era, both by his works of
fiction and his dramatic work, was NICHOLAS GOGOL [1809-52]. It is
true that in the thirties Russia began to produce home-made novels. In
Pushkin's story _The Queen of Spades_, when somebody asks the old
Countess if she wishes to read a Russian novel, she says "A Russian
novel? Are there any?" This stage had been passed; but the novels and
the plays that were produced at this time until the advent of Gogol
have been--deservedly for the greater part--forgotten. And, just as
Lermontov was the successor of Pushkin in the domain of poetry, so in
the domain of satire Gogol was the successor of Griboyedov; and in
creating a national work he was the heir of Pushkin.

Gogol was a Little Russian. He was born in 1809 near Poltava, in the
Cossack country, and was brought up by his grandfather, a Cossack; but
he left the Ukraine and settled in 1829 in St. Petersburg, where he
obtained a place in a Government office. After an unsuccessful attempt
to go on the stage, and a brief career as tutor, he was given a
professorship of History; but he failed here also, and finally turned
to literature. The publication of his first efforts gained him the
acquaintance of the literary men of the day, and he became the friend
of Pushkin, who proved a valuable friend, adviser, and critic, and
urged him to write on the life of the people. He lived in St.
Petersburg from 1829 to 1836; and it was perhaps home-sic