Prince Rostislav (Князь Ростисла′в) is a poem by Alexey Konstantinovich Tolstoy first published in the April 1856 issue of The Russian Messenger (book 1, pp. 483-484), subtitled The Ballad. [1]
The poem was based on an episode in Slovo o Polku Igoreve concerning Prince Rostislav of Pereyaslavl (1070-1093) and his brothers' losing a battle with the Polovtsy. Fleeting from the enemy, he drowned in the Stuhna River. The quotation from Slovo was used in a corrupt form, common at the time. [2]
Later literary scholars found close similarities between this poem and Lermontov's Mermaid and Goethe's King Harald Garfager.
The poem was set to music twice, by Anton Rubinstein and Sergei Rachmaninoff. [2]
Prince Rostislav (Князь Ростисла′в) is a poem by Alexey Konstantinovich Tolstoy first published in the April 1856 issue of The Russian Messenger (book 1, pp. 483-484), subtitled The Ballad. [1]
The poem was based on an episode in Slovo o Polku Igoreve concerning Prince Rostislav of Pereyaslavl (1070-1093) and his brothers' losing a battle with the Polovtsy. Fleeting from the enemy, he drowned in the Stuhna River. The quotation from Slovo was used in a corrupt form, common at the time. [2]
Later literary scholars found close similarities between this poem and Lermontov's Mermaid and Goethe's King Harald Garfager.
The poem was set to music twice, by Anton Rubinstein and Sergei Rachmaninoff. [2]