Lev Ivanovich Borovikovskii

Born Feb. 10 (22), 1806, in the village of Meliushki, Khorol District, Poltava Province; died there Dec. 15 (27), 1889. Ukrainian poet. Born into a gentry family.

Borovikovskii studied at the University of Kharkov (1826–30). He taught history in Gymnasiums and began to publish his works in 1828. He was the author of songs, ballads, and fables. The ballad “Marusia” (1829) was written on motifs from V. A. Zhukovskii’s “Svetlana.” Borovikovskii elucidated historical events in the spirit of the official doctrine of “national character.” The verses included in the collection Fables and Facetious Sayings of Levko Borovikovskii (1852) deal with ethical and domestic problems and, more rarely, touch on social questions. Borovikovskii collected folk songs, proverbs, and popular superstitions. He worked on a dictionary of the Ukrainian language.