Shcherbina, Nikolai

Born Dec. 2 (14), 1821, in the village of Gruzko-Elanchinskaia, near Taganrog; died Apr. 10 (22), 1869, in St. Petersburg. Russian poet.

Shcherbina wrote poems on classical themes and in the style of the ancient Greeks. They affirm the cult of beauty and a rational serene perception of the world, for example, the collection Greek Verses (1850). In the second half of the 1850’s civic motifs became prominent in such works of his as the cycle Iambs and Elegies. Toward the end of his life, Shcherbina primarily wrote satires, including Album of a Hypochondriac (1841–61) and Satirical Chronicle (1861–69).

Shcherbina’s satires and epigrams were hostile to the government, but they also contained frequent attacks on the revolutionary democrats.