Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0017179, Mon, 13 Oct 2008 13:12:31 +0400

Subject
Delvig law
Date
Body
Re: [NABOKV-L] [NABOKOV-LIST] Stylistic distortions and foot-notespointed out that "old/cold" was a rare, sad rhyming pair that also rhymed in German: "alt/kalt." Wonder if VN had this added nuance of "alt-itude" brooding in some recess of his fertile mind?


Dear Stan,

"Delvig* disliked mystical poetry. He used to say: the nearer to heaven, the colder [it/one is getting]" (Pushkin, "Table-talk," 1835). If I'm not mistaken, Khodasevich speaks of the "Delvig law" in his book on Derzhavin.

You may know that, in Russian, kholodnyi (cold) rhymes with golodnyi (hungry). See Nekrasov and Nabokov's Despair (Ardalion's words).

*Baron Anton Delvig (1798-1831), a Russian poet, Pushkin's best friend at the lyceum and later.

best,
Alexey

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