Happy Birthday, Apollon

Apollon Nikolayevich Maykov (Аполлон Николаевич Майков) was born today in Moscow, in 1821. His short poetry is pretty good, his longer works are somewhat dated and rather Victorian.

His great contribution - translating the Igor tale into modern Russian.

Here's one of his (from here, translation mine):

МЕРТВАЯ ЗЫБЬ

Буря промчалась, но грозно свинцовое море шумит.
Волны, как рать, уходящая с боя, не могут утихнуть
И в беспорядке бегут, обгоняя друг друга,
Хвастаясь друг перед другом трофеями битвы:
        Клочьями синего неба,
Золотом и серебром отступающих туч,
        Алой зари лоскутами.

DEAD SWELL

The storm drives on through, but the leaden sea roars menacingly.
The waves, like a war host departing after battle, cannot calm down,
And run in disorder, chasing one after the other,
Boasting one before the other of their spoils from the battle:
        Shreds from the blue sky,
Gold and silver from the retreating clouds,
        Scarlet rags torn from the dawn.