Monday, 5 October 2026

Batyushkov's poem on a shepherdess's grave and Poussin's painting “The Arcadian Shepherds”

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Batyushkov's poem on a shepherdess's grave and Poussin's painting “The Arcadian Shepherds”

Подруги милые! в беспечности игривой
Под плясовой напев вы резвитесь в лугах.
И я, как вы, жила в Аркадии счастливой,
И я, на утре дней, в сих рощах и лугах
Минутны радости вкусила:
Любовь в мечтах златых мне счастие сулила:
Но что ж досталось мне в сих радостных местах? —
Могила!

Dear friends, in playful carelessness
You frolic in the meadows to a dance tune.
I too, like you, lived in happy Arcadia,
I too, at the dawn of my days, in these groves and meadows
Tasted fleeting joys:
Love in golden dreams promised me happiness:
But what fell to my lot in these joyful places? —
A grave!

Literal translation

“Inscription on the Tomb of a Shepherdess”, Konstantin Batyushkov, 1830.

The poem is illustrated by Nicolas Poussin’s enigmatic painting “Et in Arcadia ego”, or “The Arcadian Shepherds”.

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