MR: In Mary, Ganin waits "in
vain for a nightingale to start trilling in the poplars as in a poem by Fet."
Can someone provide me with the poem in question, preferably in
translation?
In "Mashen'ka" (Chapter Six) we
read: "тщетно ждал, чтобы в
тополях защёлкал фетовский соловей" ("waited
in vain for Fet's nightingale to start trilling in the
poplars"). Nightingales haunt many poems of Fet and it is difficult
to say which of them Ganin has in mind. Here is one of Fet's best known
poems that mentions a nightingale:
Шёпот, робкое
дыханье.
Трели
соловья,
Серебро и
колыханье
Сонного
ручья.
Свет ночной, ночные
тени,
Тени без
конца,
Ряд волшебных
изменений
Милого
лица,
В дымных тучках пурпур
розы,
Отблеск
янтаря,
И лобзания, и
слезы,
И заря,
заря!..
(Alas, no English translation found)
Alexey Sklyarenko