Nikolay Fyodorovich Shcherbina (; – ) was a 19th-century

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

n poet. Nikolay Shcherbina was born in the Mius district of the

Don Cossack Host Don Cossacks (russian: Донские казаки, Donskie kazaki) or Donians (russian: донцы, dontsy) are Cossacks who settled along the middle and lower Don. Historically, they lived within the former Don Cossack Host (russian: До ...

in the mansion of his mother. His father was of

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

descent, and his mother of Greek and Don Cossack descent. His parents moved to the city of Taganrog, populated by Greek and Italian colonists. This influenced his aesthetic feelings and acquainted him with the Greek way of life and popular legends. Shcherbina studied at the Taganrog Boys Gymnasium (

Chekhov Gymnasium The Chekhov Gymnasium in Taganrog on Ulitsa Oktyabrskaya 9 (formerly Gymnasicheskaya Street) is the oldest gymnasium in the South of Russia. Playwright and short-story writer Anton Chekhov spent 11 years in the school, which was later named af ...

), where he fell in love with

Greek language Greek ( el, label=Modern Greek, Ελληνικά, Elliniká, ; grc, Ἑλληνική, Hellēnikḗ) is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece, Cyprus, southern Italy (Calabria and Salento), southern Al ...

lessons and wrote the long poem ''Sappho'' at the age of thirteen. In 1838, his work ''To the Sea'' was published for the first time in the magazine ''Syn Otechestva'' (Son of the Fatherland). In 1850, a collection of his poems, ''Grecheskie stikhotvoreniya'' (Greek Verses), was published in

Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...

and was well received by the public. Shcherbina moved to

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

the same year, where he worked as assistant to the chief editor of ''

Moskovskie Vedomosti ''Moskovskiye Vedomosti'' ( rus, Моско́вские ве́домости, p=mɐˈskofskʲɪje ˈvʲedəməsʲtʲɪ; ''Moscow News'') was Russia's largest newspaper by circulation before it was overtaken by Saint Petersburg dailies in the m ...

'' and published poems in various journals from Moscow and

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. In 1854, he moved to Saint Petersburg, where he was appointed Official for Special Missions at the Ministry of Public Education. In the capital, he published ''Pchela'' (Bee), a collection of verses for popular reading, which was approved by the Ministry and improved his financial means. In 1857, his complete works in two volumes and ''Collection of the Best Russian Poems'' were published. In 1860–1869, he served at the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

References

1821 births 1869 deaths Russian male poets Russian people of Greek descent Russian people of Ukrainian descent 19th-century poets 19th-century male writers from the Russian Empire Burials at Tikhvin Cemetery {{Russia-poet-stub