Poe's popularity in Russia is hard to overrate. He is known not only as a teller of strange, unforgettable tales and of what a Russian critic calls 'philosophical fables, which hypnotise both our senses and our mind,' but also as a poet who has discovered new islands of beauty. Russian literature possesses a truly remarkable translation of Poe's complete poetical works, which closely follows the metre of the original. This is perhaps the most adequate transposition of Poe's poetry yet produced in any language."
The translator thus referred to is Constantine Balmont,[1] the poet, who has also translated Whitman's Leaves of Grass into Russian. Whitman, says Balmont, is the South Pole. "But Edgar Poe is the North Pole and all the southern lands which one passes on one's way to the North Pole. Edgar Poe is the sweetest sound of the lute and the most passionate sob of the violin. He is sensation exalted to the state of crystal serenity, an enchanted gorgeous hall ending with a magical mirror........ Edgar Poe is the furnace of self-knowledge. He is our elder brother, the beloved Solitary One, and we sorely grieve that we are not able to sail up the river of years and join him, all of us, a faithful band, now so numerous, him, our king, who at that time was deserted, in the dreadful moment of his great struggle. Peace, peace be with him, our fair angel of sorrow. He lives among us, in our most delicate sensations, in the mad outcries of our sorrow, in the sonorous
- ↑ It will be remembered that Rachmaninoff's symphony, "The Bells," heard in New York and Philadelphia in February, 1920, was based on Balmont's translation of Poe's poem.
