Nikolay Yazykov

For seven years (1822-1829) Yazykov studied at the philosophy department of Dorpat University, where he made himself famous with his riotously Anacreontic verse in praise of the students' merry life.

The young idealists grouping around Nikolai Stankevich, however, dismissed his work as contemptibly lacking in ideas.

His spare time was devoted to collecting Russian folk poetry, in which task he was assisted by Pyotr Kireyevsky.

Mirsky compared Yazykov to Gavrila Derzhavin for "his power of seeing nature as an orgy of light and color".

Indeed, his early (and best known) poetry is devoted to the praise of wine and merrymaking, producing an effect of the almost physical intoxication and verbal rush.